Mental Health – The Real Pandemic.

In Northern Ireland, the number of people suffering from

mental health and suicide has reached an all time high.

It is estimated that More than 20% of young people are

suffering from significant mental health problems by the
time they reach 18. However, on average, they will have
to wait around 10 years until support becomes available.

A report by mental health group Samaritans revealed that

suicide rates for men and women are almost twice as high
in Northern Ireland than they are in any other UK nation
or the Republic of Ireland.

The suicide rate for young people aged 15-24 has

increased from 17.2 to 17.8 deaths per 100,000 people in
one year. This shows that there is little being done to
help the suffering young people in Northern Ireland, and
that something needs to be done about our increasing
problem.

Although the statistics have not been confirmed, it is

thought that there were 33 lives lost to suicide in the
first week of September alone. This shows that there has
been a severe increase in mental health struggles due to
the pandemic.

During lockdown, young people were three times more

likely to have experienced loneliness, with almost half
of people aged 18-24 feeling this way.

In Derry/Londonderry Foyle search and rescue was

established just over 27 years ago in response to the
staggering number of lives lost to suicide in the river
Foyle; it assisted in more than 230 incidents in 2016
alone.

It is clear that as young people, we need to help

eachother to help ourselves. We need to erase the stigma.