Students – Mental health illness

Dealing with mental health problems is a living nightmare. Period. Dealing with mental health problems whilst going through your adolescence and late teens is basically horrendous.

You may have read in my first piece ‘Where have I gone?’ that I struggled to continue studying when my mental health took a turn for the worst. It changed the whole course of my life. So I am hugely passionate about how dealing with mental health at a young age is so important.

At this most crucial time in your life, when you are developing all your confidence and esteem to take you forward in life, it seems so unfair to have to deal with the hell of mental health illness. If you are thrown a curve ball and find that you are anxious or depressed or dealing with any other mental health condition, then life takes on a whole new direction.

I was fortunate that my mental health problems started after high school. Relief? You could say that. But then they came full force when I went away to university at 19.

Becoming a university student had been my dream. All my young life. I looked forward to attaining my degree and going on to a full and notable career in business. But it seems the God’s had other ideas for me.

I lost my grandmother suddenly in the summer of 1993. I was not prepared for how this would affect me. University was looming. I had made a years worth of plans to relocate to Southampton, to study a BA Hons in Business and live with my fellow peers from sixth form. It was literally a dream come true.

I moved in September 1993. With hope and excitement? No. I could not understand why but I just didn’t feel right. I had been so excited. But now, I was afraid. We moved into our rented student house. I enrolled on my course and attended a few lectures. But all the while, I was crying myself to sleep every night. I had no idea why. I could not concentrate, I could not sleep, I didn’t want to eat. My head was full of thoughts. I was in mental pain. I said nothing to anyone. Most evenings were spent being miserable around the house or walking to the phone box to call home.

When I look back now, my depression was starting. But I had no idea that that was what was wrong. I tried to socialise as much as possible, and I went to the Student Union bar maybe twice. I remember all my peers literally lapping up the experience. Loving every minute. So why didn’t I? Why did I want to go home so badly? I just wanted to be safe. To be with my family.

Now you have to be clear that this was a complete personality shift for me. I had always been bright, energetic, outgoing, sociable and fun. I had been so excited for the next chapter of my life. But something had changed.

We are talking 20 years ago now and mental health then was even more stigmatised than it is now. People didn’t talk about mental health. I had not had one conversation about mental health. With anyone. Ever! So how was I to know I was on the beginning of a very slippery slope.

I started to avoid lectures. I avoided my friends and spent a lot of time in my room. To be honest with you I put it down to homesickness. I went home every other weekend until finally near Christmas that year I told my parents that I was unhappy and I wanted to move back home. So I did.

Looking back, it was all a bit of a blur really. There was no support out there. We didn’t have counsellors or tutors that we could talk to. My mental health had taken a severe turn for the worse, but I had no idea. This turn had left me leaving behind my dream of a university degree and of leaving home. Never mind my dreams of a career and a successful future.

To know that today, twenty years on, students still feel the same is unbelievable to me. Surely everyone is more aware of mental health in the year 2015? It seems not. The Priory Group has recently undertaken a study of university students with mental health illness. Their work is revealing that there is still so much stigma attached to mental health problems with students. It appears that this stigma comes primarily from their peers, but also from university staff. An overwhelming 85% of students surveyed felt that mental health still had stigma attached to it. A further six out of 10 students admitted to not believing their peers if they said they had a mental health problem. The Priory Group found that nine out of 10 students felt that further training and education was needed for both students AND staff.

So you could ask yourself. If I had gone to my university tutor twenty years ago, and said I was struggling mentally, what reaction would I have had? A negative one in all likelihood. Particularly if twenty years on there is still so little understanding and support.

It’s too easy to put the blame on being homesick or moody. What is really happening is that this is a most critical period in a young person’s life. They maybe under real pressure for the first time in their young lives. Everything is changing; where they live, meeting new people, academic pressures. Yes there will be moments when they are homesick, but there is a whole other level, when a student is depressed or anxious or suffering any way mentally, and this needs to be addressed. Support is needed then more than ever.

I cannot imagine what it is like to be in the midst of a breakdown, whilst you are trying to study. I was lucky that my breakdown came a year later. I do not want to think how hard that would have been to explain to my peers and tutors.

There is a happy ending to my story. Five years later, having recovered from my breakdown, I went back to university as a mature student and studied for a law degree. And I succeeded. Finally the dreams came true. But even then, under intense pressure of exams and assignments, there were moments where I wobbled. I was blessed and most fortunate to have made the best friends early on. One in particular suffered similar mental health problems as me and we became life long friends.

Sitting here fifteen years on, I’m not sure how I would have managed to get a degree if I had been in the blows of an episode. In all honesty, I doubt whether I would have succeeded as I did.

I can tell you, that there was no information, no support,  no network that dealt with mental health back in those days. Students were all there to have a good time and study (sometimes?)

It is so, so important that educators and students are made aware of mental health. It is as equally importantly as physical disability. They should be trained in recognising early signs. It is the most important time in a young person’s life and they should have every possible chance of succeeding at life. They should be able to reach their potential and attain their dreams. I am evidence that with the right support, medication and lifestyle changes, you can attain your dreams. But not everyone is as lucky as me.

Working to remove the stigma attached to mental health has been a twenty-year long work in progress for me. It is vitally important that so-called ‘normal’ individuals understand that mental health problems can happen to anyone. At any time in their life. It could be you. Or it could be your child. Talk about mental health and educate people wherever you can that it does not make you a scary person. In fact it is normally quite the opposite.

For those students experiencing mental health illness I take my hat off to you. Genuinely. I hope you get the support you need and you ‘make it!’ For those parents out there, please educate yourself in the basics of mental health illness and be aware of the signs. Then support your child in every possible way throughout their years of education.

For educators, please acknowledge that mental health illness is more prevalent then ever and your students need your understanding. Take a stand. Be the person who makes a difference to your students. Make changes in the processes and support networks and above all, please do not treat these students differently. They are the same as you. Mental health illness is no different to physical health problems.

Together we can address the ongoing stigma attached to mental health illness. The Priory Group do amazing work every day treating all aspects of mental health and working to influence mental health policy.

Students, whether high school or university, need to be supported. Education is everything as far as I am concerned. So to be struggling mentally at this time in your life really is the biggest test that most people won’t understand. I have so much admiration for anyone struggling in this way.

Here’s to change in the future and any advances in improving mental health services and support, particularly for students. These students will go on to learn, work and contribute to society in ways that they and us, cannot even imagine right now. Let’s support them in any way we can.

About Priory Group

Priory Group is the leading integrated provider of specialist mental health, education and care in the UK, running the largest network of mental healthcare hospitals and clinics in the country. It provides treatments for addictions and conditions including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, self-harming, and eating disorders. It also supports people with learning disabilities, autism and Asperger’s. Priory Group consists of Priory Healthcare, Priory Education Services, Amore Care and Craegmoor. Priory Healthcare runs 35 Priory hospitals across the UK, treating more than 30,000 patients a year, with 85% of its services publicly funded. Priory Education Services manage 26 schools and colleges, providing education for more than 1,000 pupils with challenging emotional and behavioural difficulties including autism and Asperger’s, working alongside Craegmoor.