Young Healthwatch members attend NHS England’s Youth Voice Summit
One of our volunteers, Yunzhou, wrote this blog about the experience.
When we arrived at the event hall, the warm and welcoming feeling hit me as I was surrounded by young people and children who influence health care’s future – this is pretty influencing. The event was scheduled into 4 parts: introduction, workshop 1, workshop 2 and summary. In the introduction we heard how mental health issues have been prominent in the UK, affecting tons of individuals. It would also lead to poor physical health as depressed people would undervalue their life, which may result in self-harming or even suicide.
I have always wished to contribute more in tackling mental health issues as some of my close friends suffer from it, also there was a period I felt pretty lonely and anxious about life. As a kid, you are always instructed to do something, for example, trying hard in studying, listening to parents and teacher’s advice. However, when you are into early adulthood, you suddenly need to take the decision for yourself. As an international student, the culture differences, the language barriers, the independent lifestyle, the pressure of working, the difficulty of exams, the miserable weather condition, can easily hit your vulnerable mind, the loneliness of surviving in a society that you cannot build a sense of belonging exposes you to a mentally unstable state.
In this event, most of the participants in my group have experienced helping people winning the battle of “mind monsters” or observed some close friends who suffered from this. There are some plausible and innovative ideas about how to mitigate the issue, such as online forums to encourage people share the stories and finding help online, creating a peer-to-peer support groups who have similar experience so that they can put themselves in another’s shoes, building up the local communities to create a confidential, relaxing, encouraging environment. I am quite moved by the unexpected people choosing this pressing topic, and feel proud that I am one of them.
There were also some performances focusing on mental health issues such as singing an original song, reciting a poem that shares the thoughts when anxiety attacks him. Throughout the event, I personally gained more understanding of the NHS’s role and voiced my thoughts to shape the NHS’s future, from an international student perspective. I would wish to join these kinds of events more, partaking in the strategy of brightening our future.
