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National Young Person’s
Conference success
Young people from all over the UK came together for Addaction’s recent National Young Person’s
Conference at The Oval cricket ground.
The event was a chance for young people to speak frankly about their experiences growing up,
how they find accessing the support on offer at Addaction and more generally within mental
health and substance misuse services.
While drug and alcohol issues among young people have been broadly in decline since 2001,
self harm is increasingly common. The conference gave young people the chance to talk to staff
and professionals about why that might be, and what life’s like for a teenager right now.
A panel of young people offered their thoughts including:
• ‘When people say it’s “just my hormones” I think: but maybe it’s not. Listen, maybe I actually
am going through something.’
• ‘As a teenager I feel I have to be strong and confident… if I were to break down in tears
randomly, I think I’d get judged.’
• ‘I think it’s difficult having to balance out your school life, social life, and getting enough sleep.
Especially if you have a weekend job. They say you’re supposed to have eight hours sleep. But
that can actually be hard.’
• ‘Family wants you to do well, so the pressure they put on you can make you feel really stressed.
And like you’re also putting pressure on yourself. I feel like the stress is real but you need to
find that balance between working hard and having fun – believing in yourself that you can do
well.’
• ‘At primary school, you can rely on the adults and older children to look up to. When you’re in
secondary school, suddenly it’s you – you are that older child people need to look up to. And
expectations come from teachers, parents and ourselves.’
• ‘I feel like there’s two kinds of stereotype, where you’re either really stressed and working hard
to do well all the time, or you’re not doing any work at all and you’re lazy… and it’s more
complicated than that.’
The event also marked the release of the expert briefing, Childhood adversity, substance misuse and
young people’s mental health. Sarah Brennan, chief executive of YoungMinds, outlined the premise
of the report, emphasising that while we are seeing the stigma around mental health shift, ‘for
young people it’s still tough’.
In a talk on ‘health, social function and wellbeing’, Professor Harry Sumnall of the Centre for
Public Health commented that ‘the role of good policy is to provide positive, supportive healthy
environments – young people waiting 19 weeks to be seen by CAMHS is a political issue’. Shirley
Cramer of the Royal Society for Public Health then shared #StatusofMind, a recent report from the
RSPH and the Young Health movement, examining the positive and negative effects of social
media on young people’s mental health.
The biggest cheer of the event was for a short film Step Out of the Crowd, put together by
Addaction’s Mind and Body staff and service users. In it, young adolescent men talk about self-
harm, the importance of talking about their feelings, and their hopes for the future.
Visit Addaction’s YouTube channel to see the film or the Facebook page to watch the talks.
can talk openly about mental health and substance
use without fear of being judged and stigmatised,’
he says. ‘Talking to peers has helped the young
people on the Mind and Body programme realise it
is okay not to be okay all of the time, with three in
four reporting an improvement in wellbeing. We
hope we can inspire and empower other young
people to follow their lead.’
‘We know that children who have had a difficult
start in life are far more likely to develop long-term
mental health problems, and drugs and alcohol
misuse may often play a role in this – that’s why it’s
crucial that commissioners invest in early
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intervention to ensure that the children most at risk
get the right support quickly,’ says Dr Marc Bush,
chief policy adviser at YoungMinds.
‘It’s also vital that professionals working in A&E
departments or in specialist drug and alcohol
services have the skills they need to explore whether
young people are self-medicating as a way of
managing painful feelings and memories. We need
to dig beneath the surface and make sure we
address the cause of dangerous behaviour in young
people, and not just the symptoms.’
To read the full briefing visit
https://www.addaction.org.uk/about-us/research
Addaction and
YoungMinds
are calling
for local
commissioners
to ensure that
local services
provide
support for
children and
families by:
MAKING sure all young people at primary and
secondary school receive universal-level, age-
appropriate drug and alcohol education and
psychoeducation, looking at risks, relationships
and how to build resilience for decis ion-making.
This should be delivered by those with a good
knowledge of child adversity, trauma responses,
mental ill health and substance use.
INTRODUCING route enquiries about childhood
adversity at A&E, urgent care, and specialist drug
and alcohol services.
INVESTING in early intervention models.
Research is clear that the age a young person
starts using substances is a strong predictor of
the severity of their use later on in life. Early
intervention should initially be targeted at
children with a known risk factor or in a
vulnerable group, eg looked-after children or
young offenders.
BUILDING targeted support for parents and the
whole family to promote recovery from
addiction, alongside addressing adversity the
children have been exposed to.
ESTABLISHING inter-agency collaboration to
make sure all a young person’s needs are met,
while recog nising any trauma and adversity
they’ve experienced.
September 2017 | drinkanddrugsnews | 9