The Lost Generation: Tackling Mental Health Issues in Young Generation Today

A notification popped up on my phone last night........

'One in four young people in England have mental health condition, NHS survey finds'

Not a particularly pleasant title. But the thing that made it worse? I was surprised that the number isn't higher.

Some of the other statistics in the artice (which I'll link at the bottom) were even worse. The report says:

• More than a fifth of adults have a common mental health condition.

• More than 1 in 4 adults have had suicidal thoughts and that increased to 1 in 3 for those between the ages of 16-24.

• Self harm rates have quadrupled in the last 25 years.

This worries me a great deal and as someone who has struggled with their own mental health at times, I can completely relate to how difficult dealing with anxiety can be. When are the people in charge (regardless of political allegiance) going to sit down and really understand why this is happening and how we can begin to get a handle on this really quite distressing situation?

I note that the same article says that plans are due to be announced for people to self refer for talking therapies through the NHS app. Brilliant. Also that there are 85 new mental health emergency departments to be built. Fantastic. Any sort of mental health support or increased visibility is always a positive thing.

That said, this sort of solution is knowing that you've got to run a marathon next weekend and you've only managed to walk to the end of your street so far in training for it!! Giving increased access to talking therapies would be amazing, if the infrastructure was in place. Allowing people to self refer for a waiting list that could be 18 months long is only going to be marginally quicker than getting your GP to refer you for the same waiting list. Mental health emergency centres are also a brilliant idea as long they are properly staffed with appropriately trained staff, but they'll only deal with the immediate issue and the long term issues that person have will remain and still need treating.

A full review, followed by a serioud conversation about how to deal with the mental health crisis this country is facing has to be a proirity. If it isn't, we will lose generation after generation to suicide, anxiety, depression amongst others. There are hundreds of therapists being trained every year with paid employment roles being few and far between, so with the right investment, publicly funded talking therapy services could be staffed easily. That would be one option. The other option could be that all schools are given funding to place at least 1 fully trained therapist within their school. Whilst the emergence of 'wellbeing mentors' is a positive step, there is more than could be done.

So I'm appealing, to anyone that has the power, status, resources or knowledge to help. Please help us not to completely lose this generation. The same generation that dealt with Covid and will soon have to deal with rising costs, poor job opportunities and a lack of housing. Those challenges are tough enough without dealing with constant anxiety, depression, the urge to hurt themselves or even wanting to end their own lives.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/26/young-people-england-common-mental-health-conditions-nhs-survey

Lastly, if you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health issues, What's Next Counselling is a flexible online therapy practice offering talking, email and single session therapy. Please feel free to get in touch.