With Lady Gaga making history last month becoming the first woman in history to win an Oscar, Grammy, Bafta and Golden Globe in one year, it is no surprise that people are talking about her and her acceptance speech from the Grammys, shedding light on mental health.
Her charity the Born This Way Foundation, titled in honour of her 2011 album, was founded by Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germannota in 2012 with the goal of “creating a kinder and braver world”. But even with this foundation running, Gaga’s speech threw light on the lack of resources and continuous stigma that still surrounds mental illness.
The Born This Way Foundation recently conducted a study with the Benenson Strategy Group and found that 9 out of 10 young people between the ages of 13 and 24 say that mental health should be a priority but less than half make their own mental health a priority. They found that in general young people found that access to resources was either limited, with many young people not knowing where to go for help or too expensive.
With such a large number of young people either not putting their mental health first or struggling to find effective cheap resources to help them, it is no surprise that Generation Z – those born on the turn of the millennium – are experiencing depressive symptoms at a rate two thirds higher than Millennials, born in the early nineties despite their use of alcohol and antisocial behaviour dropping between generations.
If you are in need of help with Mental Health issues and are unsure where to start The Eaves offers highly trained counsellors and psychologists who can help you work through whatever you are dealing with. They also offer low cost services in Guildford.
If you are looking for free counselling or resources, follow these links
To refer yourself to NHS Counselling: https://www.mindmattersnhs.co.uk/
For general support and advice with mental health problems: https://www.samaritans.org/ or https://www.mind.org.uk/