5 Top Mental Health Support Websites for Young People
This pandemic has been hard on everyone and those that struggle with mental health have certainly suffered a lot. But one group that has been under a lot of pressure is young people.
For many, the lockdowns may have actually brought issues to the fore that may not have been there before. Isolation, school pressures as well as all the usual teenage pressures have made a perfect storm for some.
Growing up is tough enough at the best of times but not being able to socialise normally and a growing reliance on online communication has made things a lot worse for many people.
From primary school age right up to late teens and students Covid 19 has been tough so I wanted to pull together a list of the top 5 sites young people can go to for information and support about mental health.
Some are places to get coping tips and find out more about issues and others are more about getting help.
It is really important to state that if you are feeling suicidal or having thoughts about harming yourself or anyone around you please please call the NHS helpline and speak to someone!
NHS – One You
While this isn’t strictly a site it is important to always refer to the NHS where you can. This is a section within a site but it is geared towards young people and has lots of good stuff on it! It has some really good videos covering topics like Self Care and Social Media, Dealing with Change and dealing with unhelpful thoughts. There are also tonnes of numbers and links to other advice and support locations like the Shout 85258 service where you can text 24/7 for support.
Hidden Strength
This is a brand new site and one that may well become a very popular place for young people to find out more about mental well-being and mental health issues. At the moment it’s essentially a place to read loads of really useful articles on everything from addiction to online gaming, to eating disorders and from dealing with panic attacks to understanding depression. In the future, Hidden Strength is going to be launching an app and much more so it’s well worth bookmarking this one!
Young Minds
Young Minds has been around for a while and is a very popular site. It offers information on a wide range of mental health topics and also encourages young people to talk openly about issues. Young Minds is a charity and they do a lot of fundraising work people can get involved in. It is all about giving teens a voice but also has a lot of resources for teachers and adults to help them support young people too.
Stem 4
Stem is another mental health charity, the name comes from the aim of stemming mental health issues at a young age before they become more serious as people get older. There is a lot of info about how to spot the early stages and warning signs of mental health issues which is a really positive angle to take. There are lots of tools to help young people worth through issues as well as 2 apps and a video section too.
Kooth
Essentially Kooth is an online messaging platform but it is more than that in many ways. It offers an anonymous messaging support network for young people where they can talk to counsellors about mental health issues. The counsellors can offer support and advise young people on a range of issues. On top of this, there are also lots of articles written by other young people which is a great way of offering support from people in the same situation. There is also a mental health journal where young people can track their daily feelings and mental health journey.
While it is fair to say you can’t fix a mental health issue by reading an article this kind of information can play a really powerful role in supporting people learning about issues they may have or be developing. In many cases finding out, we are not alone can be a very big deal.
On top of the information, these sites all offer crisis numbers and NHS information as well as many of them actually offering online counselling in various ways too.
Ultimately they are all helping young people to talk about this stuff more, learn about mental well being as well as mental health problems and hopefully help fight the growing mental health crisis we are seeing all around us.
Do you know of any mental health websites which should be added to this list?
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I have heard of some of these but going to look through the others. I have a 16yr old daughter who has autism and also struggles with mental health and anxiety issues and also gender confusion. It is SO hard to get the right support, I feel like 16 is such a hard age too as they don’t fit in a catagory, a lot of places sign off at 16 but then a lot start at 18. It has been a mega long road for us especially as I have bipolar and anxiety too.
Oh gosh that must be so hard for you both. I remember when I was 16 I was discharged as a inpatient and my local CAMHS were like what do we do with a 16 year old, oh we don’t know send her to the adult mental health team and while I have no insight to CAMHS anymore if it’s anything like adults it has only gone downhill since then.
Great list! I haven’t heard of a lot of these but am glad they help out with mental health!
Definitely, we all need more help I think around trying to take care of our mental health.
I’d like to recommend The Mix as well, it offers great support and advice for young people under 25: http://www.themix.org.uk
Thank you – I’ll try and add it into the post when I have some time as well.
It is wonderful when you can see the internet being used for good
Definitely, I think we all need to see some good at times.
This is really good to know. I have heard of Young Minds. Such a lot of support if you know where to look.
It can definitely be hard to know where to turn, especially when in crisis.
I think sometimes social media sites can aid people feeling down. Posters give the illusion everything they do,say & feel is fabulous and it’s not everyone has crap days but never say things like that. I suffered depression when I was a lot younger you think you are the only one but you are not . And depression medication is not addictive now like it used to be. You feel you can never feel good in your life ever again but you do! Believe me get help you won’t regret it.
The times that we live in, with the pressures from social media followed by the pandemic, must cause young people to feel so many expectations. Their mental health needs to be taken as seriously as their physical health.
Definitely, I started with mental health issues very early in life and I cannot imagine what it would be like with the additional pressures of today.
I used the NHS to help me with my mental health during the pandemic. I live in the borough of Greenwich so it was Greenwich Time to Talk who were supporting me. Even though I hated my sessions and bringing every sad thing I felt out into the open, looking back it was really nice to have someone to hear me out without any judgement. Don’t think I would have handled my depression very well without their support.
I’m so glad you were able to find someone to help support you through the pandemic, access to mental health services can be hard to get and it is also hard to ask for that help.
There is such need for this and it is so underfunded, it is frightening. Some good websites here for interim help.
It scares me how much worse mental health care is getting, I thought it was bad 20+ years ago but now, I daren’t think of it.
Thanks for giving some idea of where to get help when often it seems there is none
It is hard isn’t it – it often seems like you are fighting a losing battle.
Good blog highlighting help and information for youngsters and their parents
Thank you for a helpful and sensitively written post. Teenagers can be a problem though as they may be unlikely to read a post like this and concerned parents can only go so far in helping them.
These are extremely useful to have bookmarked, I definitely will be doing that
This is great! Thank you for sharing. It’s not easy to go to someone when I’m feeling down. Finding help on the web is easier sometimes
Great for young people – so helpful and good to know there is help there!
I am so glad that people have found the list useful. Thank you.
Great post. Mental health is such a big issue for young people today and it can be very hard to find help and support when they need it.
It makes me sad that there really hasn’t been much movement forward in mental health care since I was a child.
Mental health and helping those that need it is very important, been in many situations where we could have used the help , so getting it out there that there is help is a fantastic thing to do
Definitely – I think it can be hard to know where to go when you are in the moment as well.
Such a hidden problem in our society, young men and boys still think they cannot speak out about their mental health. My 21 year old son had a breakdown just over a year ago, transferred all his money into my bank account, texted me and said he was going to end it all then snook out of the house. After 6 harrowing hours, we found him, managed to bring him home & have worked with him and other professionals since. It’s changed him hugely and came down to his issue with decision making, (& a bullying employer!). I for one am grateful for the mental health support systems in place.
I’m so glad you seem to have found a support system to help him – it seems like quite a postcode lottery in places on the available support.
If you are ‘in the system’ and already known to suffer from depression (through GP assessment), your local health authority will usually have a small specialist team you can contact if having a mental health crisis. Worth exploring with your GP and making a note of the emergency number.
Definitely – I know as part of my care plan as well the numbers are written into it, however, they do like you to try the samaritans first rather than them these days.
An excellent post for parents. Thank you. I guess that most parents start either with the NHS or school when they feel their child would benefit from support but, even before lockdown, may have found themselves on a waiting list for the waiting list. Online resources are, therefore, invaluable.
That’s the trouble, isn’t it? Mental health is so underfunded and it just needs some help!
I am glad I came across this post, my 14 year old is really suffering at the moment, I have had to take her out of school and try to build up her confidence. I will take a look at these sites
I am so sorry your daughter is struggling like this – I hope they help her out a little.
This is such a helpful post.
I know of several friends and family members who are suffering from depression. It affects more people than we think.
It really does affect so many people and so many suffer in silence from it as well.
Extremely useful post with many more people than usual needing these services
what a fantastic post. My teen is struggling at the mo and having some sessions but we’ll take a look at these websites too.
Oh no, I am so sorry to hear your teen is struggling I think the world must be so hard for younger people especially.
This is such an interesting blog post. My granddaughter suffered with depression from the age of 16. Outwardly she was bubbly and the life and soul of the party but inwardly she was suffering.
It is so easy to hide it – there isn’t a certain “look” for when you are struggling with your mental health and I Don’t think A lot of people realise that.
I think the trouble is with Mental problems like Depression its not like a rash or similar when you can see the illness. I suffered from depression when my kiddies were young…And you hear the same old thing ‘ You have got to pull yourself together’ or ‘Only you can help yourself ‘ Wrong! You need to talk to someone .Teenagers exspecially worry anyway about how they look,I’m not getting good grades etc. I think during lockdown parents will be the first to notice, Off food,Aggressive .It’s good that people like yourself make us all more aware.
Definitely it is so hard as people don’t seem to understand something they can’t see. So many times people say go for a run, or cheer up – none of it actually helps but people seem to think it does which is crazy.
The mental health charity Mind has a very useful website with information for people with mental health issues and their carers and loved ones. https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/
That is very true – not sure how they were missed, they are such a great charity, I might have to add them in.
Great article! I didn’t know of all these resources.
There are some wonderful resources out there, it is lovely to see so many for young people I think.
Fantastic and well done to you for raising awareness about this subject. My daughter did struggle. Its hard enough being a teenager, but there was lots of other factors contributing to her mental health. I got support from her school and I cannot thank them enough.
Teen years are so hard, I spent a year in the hospital with my mental health, I wouldn’t want to do those days again at all.
This is so useful, thank you Sarah! I don’t anyone who hasn’t struggled so it is nice to know we are not alone even if it does feel like that at times x
It can feel so lonely can’t it? Mental health is just an awful thing to have to deal with.
Well done for raising awareness! Some great support contacts, I know alot of young people are really struggling with mental health through this pandemic
Definitely I think more than ever people need to know how to access help.