Marks and Spencer and YoungMinds, the leading mental health charity for young people, have launched a new charity partnership to raise awareness of the help available to young people in Northern Ireland struggling with their mental health.
New research reveals 59% of young people in Northern Ireland have not asked for help with mental health despite struggling
- The new partnership aims to raise £5m and M&S kickstarts fundraising with £1m corporate donation – enough to fund vital YoungMinds services for a year.
- Newly commissioned research reveals the impact struggling with mental health can have on young people’s education, work and relationships.
- M&S stores across Northern Ireland will turn Yellow in support of Hello Yellow Day on 10th October.
The partnership, which will provide funding and support for vital resources aimed at young people and the adults in their lives, launches as new research shows the majority of young people are still not asking for help with their mental health, despite struggling.
Working together the partnership will aim to raise £5m over the next three years, with M&S today announcing a £1m donation – enough to run the YoungMinds parents’ helpline for a year.
Speaking about the announcement, Tracy Woods, Customer Assistant at M&S Belfast commented: “This partnership with YoungMinds gives us a chance to support young people across NI, raising awareness and much-needed funds. I have unfortunately witnessed first-hand the affects poor mental health can have on our daily lives. We experienced a suicide in our family, and this tragedy has had a ripple effect on me and those I love dearly.
Today’s young people are facing a lot of pressures. YoungMinds offer fantastic support and are experts in giving young people up-to-date information and advice, presented in a way which is easy to navigate and just makes sense when it comes to the problems young people are facing every day in NI. I can’t wait to see M&S colleagues and customers come together to support this important cause.”
To support the new partnership M&S and YoungMinds have commissioned new research to better understand the mental health of young people in Northern Ireland. The research found that despite struggling with their mental health, 59% of young people hadn’t asked for any kind of formal support with 21% of those saying they felt too embarrassed.
Loneliness, financial pressures, school pressures and worries about the future were cited as the biggest causes of mental health problems in the young people surveyed across the region.
The research suggests that the waiting times for formal support with mental health for young people is a problem in Northern Ireland. More than 33% of the young people polled had waited more than six months for formal support compared to the overall UK average of 20%. The results also show that these waiting times are having an adverse effect on young people’s lives. 90% of those who had waited or were waiting for mental health support at some point stopped attending school, college, university or work.
Outside of education and work the research also reveals the social consequences of not finding support, with many young people dropping out of sport, stopping exercise and hobbies, not seeing friends, and experiencing problems in relationships with families and partners.
Kicking off the fundraising activities, M&S stores across Northern Ireland will be turning yellow on Tuesday 10th October to support Hello Yellow Day, an annual national campaign from Young Minds to show young people that they are not alone in their mental health. For one day only, the iconic M&S green sign will turn yellow with fundraising activities taking place in-store to go towards the £5m fundraising goal.
£5m will double the number of young people, and adults in their lives supported by YoungMinds to 7 million people, primarily through digital resources and the parents’ helpline. M&S will also help its 30 million customers and 60,000 colleagues understand more about young people’s mental health and feel able to have better conversations with young people who may be struggling.
Laura Bunt, Chief Executive of YoungMinds said: “Young people today are experiencing pressures that are unique to their generation. Having grown up in a pandemic, they are now living through a cost-of-living crisis and in an increasingly unstable world. Referrals to services are at record highs, and too many young people are struggling without support.
“This new research paints a picture of what happens to a young person when they are struggling, and worryingly reveals that many are still not seeking support. We know that when young people feel seen, heard and listened to, things can get better. This ground-breaking new partnership with M&S will help us reach more young people and the adults around them than ever before. Over the next three years, we will work together to show young people that they are not alone with their mental health and provide vital advice and guidance when they need it most.”
The M&S and YoungMinds new research was conducted by Savanta who polled 2,056 16-24s that self-selected they had experienced mental health issues. The poll was conducted between the 28th August and the 7th September 2023. Savanta is a member of the Market Research Society and British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Website HERE
YoungMinds is the UK’s leading charity fighting for young people’s mental health. For more information please visit youngminds.org.uk.
Follow the charity on Twitter @YoungMindsUK and on Facebook. For free advice and support for parents, call the YoungMinds helpline on 0808 802 5544.
