Useful Information

For young people aged 10-18

Home / Children and Young People – Useful Information

If you’re going through a difficult time or are struggling with how you’re feeling, it can be really scary and upsetting. Whatever you’re feeling right now, we’re here for you. We have information and advice so you don’t have to go through it alone.

If you’re struggling with how you’re feeling, you’re not alone. We’re here to support you. Our information pages will help you learn more about mental health, wellbeing and types of mental health problems. To find out about our support, click here.

Useful Information

What is mental health?

Mental health is about how we think, feel and act. We might think of it as our state of mind. Just like physical health, we all have mental health and need to take care of it.

Our mental health changes all the time and can range from good to poor:

  • Good mental health means we generally feel able to cope. We can think about things in a calm way. And we’re able to understand and express our emotions in helpful ways.
  • Poor mental health means that the way we think, feel or behave is difficult to cope with. We might stop enjoying things. Or we might not want to be around people as much. It can look different for everyone.

Remember: we can all experience difficult feelings and poor mental health. You’re not alone.

What can affect my mental health?

We’re all different. What affects your mental health may not be the same as someone else.

Some things that can lead to poor mental health include:

  • Feeling lonely, left out or like no one understands us
  • Having low confidence and self-esteem
  • Difficulties at home, school or college
  • Stressful things that have happened or are happening to us
  • Problems with money
  • Not feeling safe where we live
  • Experiencing discrimination
  • Being bullied or experiencing abuse
  • Living with a physical health problem or long-term illness
  • Finding it hard to cope with the news
  • Feeling uncertain about the future

Remember: poor mental health can also affect our behaviour and relationships with others.

There are also things that can have a positive effect on our mental health. These might include:

  • Feeling connected to others
  • Feeling heard and supported
  • Looking after our wellbeing
  • Getting the sleep we need
  • Being compassionate to ourselves and others
  • Our faith or spirituality
  • Living in a way that feels true to us
  • Doing things we enjoy
  • Feeling able to learn or try new things
  • Feeling like we can achieve things

You may have different things that you would add to this list.

How can I look after my mental health?

It can sometimes feel hard to look after our mental health, but it’s so important.

It may take time, practice and support to find what works for you, so be kind to yourself. Remember: we’re all different and may need different things at different times.

Here are some tips for looking after your mental health:

  • Talk about your feelings

  • Get enough sleep

  • Move your body and play

  • Eat healthy foods and drink water

  • Take deep breaths when you’re upset

  • Do things you enjoy

  • Be kind to yourself

  • Spend time with people (and pets!) who make you feel good

Who could I talk to about my mental health?

You don’t just have to talk to family, carers, guardians, friends or partners about how you’re feeling. You might find it easier to talk to someone you don’t know, or aren’t as close to. Other people that can help might be:

  • Teachers
  • Staff at school, like school counsellors, nurses, pastoral leads or teaching assistants
  • Your doctor
  • Youth club workers
  • Sports coaches
  • Social workers
  • Religious leaders or people from your faith group

If someone doesn’t understand, or is unsure how to help you, you can try opening up to someone else. Everyone reacts differently and it’s not your fault if they don’t understand.

Who can I talk to right now?

Sometimes you might need help and advice straight away for whatever you’re going through. You might be waiting for another type of support, or you might not feel comfortable sharing with people you know.

You can use helplines, textlines and online services at any time, for free. And you don’t have to give any details about who you are.

It can take a while to figure out what works best for you – but trying different options can help.

You can talk to someone who is trained to listen and support you, by phone, text or webchat. Whatever you say will usually be kept confidential and all of the services in the list below are free to use. Some organisations that are here to help you are:

  • Childline. Runs a 24-hour phone helpline, email service and online and 1-2-1 webchat for children and young people in the UK. Childline can also provide Welsh-speaking counsellors.
  • Samaritans and Samaritans Cymru. Run a 24-hour helpline to talk through anything you’re going through. Samaritans also offer an email service.
  • HOPELINEUK. Provides advisors who are trained to help you stay safe from suicide. They can also help if you’re worried about someone else. You can get advice and support by phone, text and email.
  • The Mix. Offers a webchat and email helpline, crisis textline, 1-2-1 online chat and video, webchat or phone counselling service for anyone needing support.

How can social media affect my wellbeing?

Social media apps or websites like Tiktok and Instagram can affect our wellbeing in good ways and in bad ways.

They can help us feel connected to other people, especially people like us or people who have similar interests. That can help us feel good. But we might also see content that is scary, upsetting or harmful to us.

You could think about how using social media is making you feel. Sometimes we don’t realise that what we’re seeing is affecting how we feel and our wellbeing. And it’s important to make sure you’re staying safe online.

You could try some of these ideas to help look after yourself:

  • Find content you enjoy and that makes you feel good.
  • Unfollow, mute or block certain accounts or hashtags that you don’t want to see.
  • Set limits for how much you’re using social media or for the times you’ll use it.
  • Block and report someone that’s making you feel uncomfortable or upset. You can also tell a trusted adult like a teacher, parent or guardian what’s going on.
  • Think about what you feel okay sharing online and what you want to keep private or talk about in other ways.
  • Think about how you keep your information safe online. For more information, have a look at this Childline page on staying safe online.

How do I open up about my mental health?

Talking to people who care about you can help you look after your mental health and cope with how you’re feeling.

But it might feel scary, or you might not know where to start. You might feel nervous about telling people what’s going on, or don’t know what to say to them.

We’re here to help you find a way that works best for you.

There’s no perfect time to open up. You can open up about how you’re feeling at any time – you don’t have to wait for it to get worse. The sooner you can open up, the sooner you might start to feel better. And it’s never too late to talk about how you feel.

You might want to think about opening up about your feelings or what you’re experiencing if you:

  • Are struggling to cope with how you feel
  • Have been through or are going through something difficult
  • Are not feeling yourself
  • Are finding it hard to cope with everyday life
  • Want someone to know how you’ve been feeling
  • Find that it’s affecting your relationships
  • Feel you want or need help

Urgent help

If you feel overwhelmed, or like you want to hurt yourself or someone else, support is available. You deserve help.

To talk with someone confidentially about how you feel, you can:

If you feel like you may try to attempt suicide, or you or someone else is seriously hurt, this is an emergency. You should:

  • Call 999 and ask for an ambulance
  • Tell an adult you trust and ask them to call 999 for help

Mental health emergencies are serious. You aren’t wasting anyone’s time.