Listen Up - Social Welfare Portal

listenup!26 | Chapter 1Opportunities to build self-confidenceand esteem, gain experience anddevelop skillsYoung people said they were looking for services tohelp build their confidence and self esteem. Manywanted not only to increase their confidence inorder to be able to socialise more and communicatewith others, but also to build and develop copingstrategies and life skills that would be transferableto their education or career. The significant numberof individuals who gained in confidence throughusing the services cited this to be, in part, a resultof engaging in successful professional relationshipswith staff and with peers through various group andone-to-one activities. Through these interactions,young people were encouraged to draw on a rangeof emotional, social, cognitive and creative skills,thus developing their range of personal skills, whichwere then transferable to other social, educationand work settings.Holistic and diverse range of supportand adviceSupport with mental health and emotionalwellbeing needsYoung people said that they needed a wide rangeof care, support, advice and information to meettheir mental health and emotional wellbeing needs.They stressed that young people have diverse needs– as one young person put it, “everyone’s different”– and these needs may change over time, so servicesneed to be flexible and adapt to these changes tosupport young people fully. Young people felt thatmore services needed to practice holistically, andincorporate a multidisciplinary team which couldoffer not only specialist mental health support, butalso generic emotional wellbeing support. They saidthey wanted to be seen as “individuals, and not acollection of symptoms”.Young people said that the road to recovery is aboutenabling them to maintain stability and consistencyin their lives, by striking a balance between theirmental health and emotional wellbeing, andequipping them with the skills and strategies to dothis. This requires services to focus on improving allaspects of young people’s lives:“To understand that it’s not all about mentalhealth… that you are a person and you’ve got likesand dislikes and you have interests and goals and Idon’t wanna be a mental health patient all my life.”Young personYoung people cited the main issues they wantedsupport with and advice on as: sexual health; finance;housing; education and career development; and, insome cases, how to be a good parent and meet theneeds of their dependants.Support with practical issuesSome young people were experiencing a period ofhomelessness, and said statutory sector staff andothers were not providing sufficient support to themwith approaching the housing and benefits services.They said some staff in the housing and benefitsservices were unhelpful and lacked understanding oftheir needs, and that, in some cases, it was difficult toaccess accurate information. The young people feltthat financial support and advice from mental healthservices would be exceptionally valuable, particularlyto help those who are trying to be re-housed or areexperiencing difficulties accessing money for basicneeds such as food.“Young people have to know the homelesslegislation and your rights to get any help.”Young personYoung people said they often felt ‘trapped’ within thebenefits and housing system. They found statutorysystems to be very confusing and discovered thatthey can sometimes even make it more difficult for ayoung person to work or go to college.