Support the #FundTheHubs campaign

Phoebe Simcock, 10th Jun 2021
Tags: Life Blog Anxiety Mental health

Mental health is a difficult subject, it’s hard to open up with our personal problems and helping others can be daunting without support.

I am very keen to open up more discussions surrounding mental health and with that, I’d like to encourage you to have a read of this article and to consider if this could help you, or someone that you care about.

Thousands of young people are suffering from mental health difficulties and charities such as Mind, Youth Access, and the Young People’s Mental Health Coalition have launched the #FundTheHubs campaign to help before it’s too late. 

The campaign is calling on the UK government to fund early support hubs for people aged 11-25 across England. These hubs will be on a drop-in or self-referral basis for young people who feel as though all help is lost. There are already some very successful hubs, thanks to Youth Access. 

However, they now need more funding for young people in all areas and they want to keep consistency and reliability to ensure maximum support.

The Centre for Mental Health have disclosed some statistics that demonstrate how severe this issue is, and how important the hubs are. 

The NHS suggested that 1 in 6 young people now has a probable mental health disorder.

"In July 2020, data from the NHS suggested that 1 in 6 young people now has a probable mental health disorder, up from 1 in 9 in 2017. Young Minds surveyed young people in 2019 about their experiences of early support; two thirds said they could not find support when they first needed it. 

"Three-quarters (78%) of young people in the same survey said that they had had to manage their mental health on their own when they couldn’t find help elsewhere, but only 17% felt confident in their ability to manage their mental health by themselves".

Love Island’s Doctor Alex has shown his support for the campaign with an Instagram post. He states that "The focus of these hubs is to provide a youth-centered approach, with therapeutic and counseling staff, youth workers and advisors in fields including employment and sexual health and wellbeing". He also enthuses the importance of needing the hubs more now than ever. 

The impact of the pandemic and being in lockdown can have very negative effects on our mental health, for some it can be a very lonely position, but the hubs are here to help with that.

So what can we do? Click here and it will take you to the Fund The Hubs page, this is the first step to taking action! 

A letter to your local MP.

It will ask you to choose which best describes you, then once you’ve filled your personal details in you’ll be taken to an already drafted letter to your local MP. You can edit this message to convey your own personal experiences and discuss why this would be so important for you and for your local area. 

Please remember that this information will be read by someone you don’t know, so don’t share anything that you’re not comfortable with a stranger knowing. Also, avoid specific information about a certain person without their permission. Lastly, please be respectful when writing your letter, this will still be read by an individual that could be experiencing difficulties themselves.

We are in hope that the hubs will have the full support from the Government but whatever happens, help is never far away. Sharing your experiences can be difficult, so be kind to yourself.

Please reach out if you need support. Either talk to someone you trust or reach out to the following places:

• YoungMinds messenger service provides free 24/7 support. Text: YM to 85258.
• If you’re under 19 you can confidentially call, chat online or email Childline. Phone: 0800 1111, 7:30am – 3:30pm.
• Anyone can contact the Samaritans 24/7 on 116 123.
• Click here for the YoungMinds website for further places to get support.