Our November Youth Voice Forum focused on Mental Health and Wellbeing.
This session was chaired by Angel Fletcher (Youth Futures Foundation) and aimed to explore young people’s experiences of mental health and wellbeing. In addition, we wanted to hear from young people what solutions they believe would provide them with better mental health and wellbeing support in education and in the workplace.
Expert Young Speaker
Our guest speaker for this session was Kelsey, an Assistant Technical Specialist at the British Institute of Cleaning Services and Youth Ambassador at Youth Employment UK, who shared her insight and experience of mental health in the workplace. Kelsey shared her experiences of the support she has been offered in her role and explained what she would like to see be done to provide better mental health support for all young people. Kelsey shared with the group how she and her peers felt line managers and those in managerial positions should be trained and well-versed in how to deal with workplace related mental wellbeing.
The Youth Discussion Highlighted:
Impact of Covid-19 – The pandemic meant being cut off from social circles and missing out on face-to-face interactions. One young person said, “I started a new job just before the pandemic and then 2 months in I had to work remotely.” They went on to explain how they said when going back into the workplace they needed to relearn certain social interactions.
Transition points – Young people expressed that their mental health suffered more during transition points such as leaving university and entering the world of work. They went on to explain that they felt unsupported at these points and didn’t know where to go for support.
Setting boundaries – Young people highlighted that setting boundaries at work was important for their wellbeing. Making sure they take a lunch break and only work within their contracted hours was important to protecting their wellbeing but also being more productive.
Tailored support – Young people mentioned that they felt the mental health support available was quite general and they wanted more tailored support which was suited to them and their needs.
More support in the workplace – Young people told us they want more support in the workplace for their mental health and wellbeing. The young people who attended said they wanted to be able to speak openly with their line manager about their mental health. One young person said “In previous employment, I expected more support from my line manager, which impacted my self-worth, it got to a point where I had to leave.”
This demonstrates the need for more open dialogue around mental health in the workplace. Young people mentioned throughout the session that they didn’t know where to go for support whether in work or out of work. We need to make sure it’s clear that the systems surrounding young people make them feel supported but also that when they do need additional support they know where to go and who to turn to.
Why Was The YEG Set Up?
In 2020, in response to the crisis and its impact on young people, Impetus, Youth Futures Foundation, Youth Employment UK, the Institute for Employment Studies, the Learning & Work Institute and The Prince’s Trust formed the Youth Employment Group (YEG) to bring together the youth employment sector to help drive the UK’s response. Now with over 300 member organisations, our coalition advocates for full and inclusive employment for young people.
Youth Employment Group
