Session 7: Identifying sources of support

Introduction

A great source of distress for young people who experience mental health problems are feelings of isolation. You will recall in Session 6 that the parents of the young people who were experiencing mental health problems reported that they also withdrew from families and friends. Isolation is often compounded by a sense of stigma. Support networks can be invaluable in assisting young people and their families. It can help them to manage any stigma they may feel in relation to their mental health and help them to feel connected with others who understand the challenges. It can also help them find sources of support. Internet technology has made it possible for people to link with others in the privacy of their homes, and the opportunities to do this continue to develop and have showed some positive results. This has been particularly the case during the COVID-19 pandemic when options to meet in person were limited. In the next video, you’ll see counsellor John Goss talking about the various types of support that in their experience young people have access to. Watch now to get a sense of the range of support.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 1: John Goss: Various types of support

Show transcript|Hide transcript

Transcript: Video 1: John Goss: Various types of support

John Goss

There’s various approaches that someone could take to get support for their mental health. For example, they might like to talk to their GP, who then might be able to signpost them to particular support groups or potentially counseling and some sort of talking therapy. Support groups could be really beneficial for someone who would like to share their experience and feel that they’re in an experience with someone that has been through something quite similar.

So the benefit of a support group can be quite empowering in the sense that those people in the group have also been through a similar experience. And the idea would be to share your experience and also hear other people’s experience. That can be very powerful for some people, making them feel less isolated. But they’re not the only person in that sort of situation.

The other possibility is a talking therapy with a counselor. If an adolescent decided to seek counseling, they can expect to be paired with someone, generally on a one-to-one basis, who will be there to listen to them. This will be a space for them to talk about their fears, perhaps their anxieties, or their concerns. That in itself can be incredibly powerful. And the counselor’s role, then, is to listen to that person, to help understand that person, and for that person to understand themselves as well.

So the counselor may do that by asking things like open questions, like, how are they feeling. They may also help set a direction for them and give them some things to think about using reflection. So they may, for example, reassure them to some degree that what they’re going through now has an end goal to it. They may give them tasks to do in between. So that could be things like building confidence, making friendships, and other particular challenges. The real thing about counseling is that that person can expect to be listened to in a non-judgmental way that will feel incredibly powerful to them.

Let’s look at depression, for example. If someone comes to counseling with depression, having that safe space and confidential space to explore what’s going on for them can be incredibly powerful. If you’re particularly concerned about your child, a good starting point might be someone that knows them already. So that could be someone at the school, in particular a teacher or someone they get on well with at school. Or you may choose to go to your GP, as well, who may then be able to refer them to a talking therapy. If you’ve spoken to them already and they also feel that they would like help or some sort of support, then maybe it’ll be more appropriate to approach a counselor in that instance.

End transcript: Video 1: John Goss: Various types of support

Download

Video 1: John Goss: Various types of support

In the video, John talks about the GP and talking therapy with a counsellor, as being two of the main formal support systems that a young person can access. You will learn more about these types of support in this session. However, as John pointed out, it is also important to sometimes engage directly with the young person and/or the people around them to find out what types of things could best support them.

In this session, you will begin by exploring how a secure network of family and friends can help to support a young person. At the beginning of the video, John also talked about the power of support groups in relation to providing spaces for the young person to share their experiences. Some of these can be in person, but as you will discover nowadays many are held online or via social media. When well-managed, these can be a good source of support and this session contains some valuable information on how young people can be encouraged and supported to use social media for the benefit of their mental health. We will also explore how it can impact negatively and how this can be managed. You will then consider what the charities MIND and YoungMinds can offer to young people with mental health problems.