Young Minds launches youth mental health video and manifesto

Great video on youth mental health produced by YoungMinds in the UK. But good advice for any country and its leadership. "YoungMinds Very Important Kids (VIK), our national panel of young people with mental health problems, have launched a manifesto and accompanying film to highlight to politicians the changes that need to be made to improve young people’s mental health." 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzPdo00pPrY

You download the YoungMinds children andyoung people's manifesto here "Written in their words and including their own stories it covers 11 areas where they believe things must change so that all young people with mental health problems get the support they often so desperately need." Manifesto main points

1. Stigma still affects us; its about time we were able to talk about how we feel.
2. Dealing with problems when we are young; train primary school staff
3. Growing up is difficult; support us when changes happen in our lives
4. Getting what we need at secondary school; train everyone to understand teenagers problems.
5. Waiting lists and assessments just make it harder; make them shorter and provide us with one worker for all our care.
6. Some doctors don’t listen to us; they need to understand and support us
7. Going to Accident and Emergency can be traumatic; treat us with respect, see beyond our labels
8. Some psychiatric units feel like prisons; learn from the best ones
9. Someone to speak up for us; we all need advocates
10. Lost in the system; don’t forget about us when we are 16 plus
11. We’re the experts; start listening to us