05/29/2019
MENTAL HEALTH IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
News | Published: May 27, 2019
MENTAL health is the biggest challenge facing young people today, a States police officer who has worked closely with schoolchildren in Jersey for almost two decades has said.
PC Jo Carter, who was awarded a long-service medal for dedicating 20 years to the local force, said social media and increasing pressures on the Island’s school-age population were bigger threats to them than drugs, drink or crime.
According to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in Jersey, one in ten children aged between five and 16 has a mental-health problem and many may continue to suffer into adulthood. Statistics from the Mental Health Strategy for Jersey (2016-2020) report states that the largest number of referrals to CAMHS in 2013 were from 14-to-17-year-olds. There were a total of 446 referrals.
Asked what she thought the biggest challenge or threat was to young people and whether, given its rise several years ago, it’s mental health.
Mental health is the big one. Police officers here do what they can. We have training, but we are not experts. But it comes down to the Health Department at the end of the day. We should do more to teach children the signs,’ said PC Carter, who is one of five States police school liaison officers.
The Mental Health Strategy report said that one of the elements to improve mental-health care was to make teachers and staff in schools better aware of the signs of mental-health problems in children. It is this element PC Carter says is improving.
‘Things like pressure from exams are much worse now and social media is a factor too. Bullying used to just take place at school, now it goes home too. Children are glued to their phones, they are never without them. Even things like not getting likes on the internet, which sounds stupid to adults, can have a big impact on self-esteem. Mental-health issues among young people is certainly more of a thing now than it was when I started 20 years ago,’ said PC Carter.
THE CODEY FUND FOR MENTAL HEALTH OFFERS FREE WORKSHOPS TO ANY SCHOOL SYSTEM IN THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY ON RECOGNIZING POSSIBLE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES IN STUDENTS. PLEASE PM FOR MORE INFORMATION.
