Mental health for everyone in the last year has been tough for everyone and as we move slowely towards a possible exit from the COVID-19 pandemic, so we must think of the long term mental health impact this may have on young people.
With this in mind the World Health Organisation (WHO) have formed the Technical Advisory Group on the mental health impacts of COVID-19 in the WHO European Region, in order to think how to manage this in the future as we move forward.
We are very excited to let you know that our very own Director, Nick Morgan, has joined the group attending his first meeting with them 2 weeks ago. This is Nicks reaction:
I was really surprised and excited to be asked to join this group. Goes to show how much we, as an organisation, have grown in the last few years and built a reputation on focussing on youth mental health across Europe. This is an issue we have been shouting about in the last 6 months and so i’m glad to be able to discuss how we can ensure the right support as we hopefully, come out of the pandemic
The group of experts will aim to look current evidence on mental health impacts of COVID-19 in Europe at all levels of the field. The aim is to understand the potential stress and trauma this has caused people, as well as the potential discomfort and going back to ‘normal’ for those who have prefered and enjoyed the slightly different way of going to work or school.
The group will also identify the gaps in this work and what research will need to be done to monitor people, for us especially youth, going forward.
This pandemic has had a huge impact, especially for young people, causing stress, disruption and unknown entities about their future. Missing endings at school, inability to enter the work field and simply lack of socialising with friends will have huge reprecussions for young people if not monitored closely.
We are conducting our own informal piece of work called ‘Unknown future of youth mental health‘ whic aims to get surveys from young people and then will take more from same young people over next 3 years every 6 months, please share with friends and colleagues.
Huge congratulations to Nick, we know he will ensure youth is a big part of the recommendations going forward in this vital topic.
Euro Youth Mental Health 