Category: News

This Christmas let’s make mental health a priority!

As a nation we’re known to be avid pet lovers and at Young Minds Matter we’re a passionate group of people who avidly support young people’s mental health.
To lighten up our lives over the festive period, and ultimately lighten up the lives of more young people, we’d like to invite you to join our fund-raising photo challenge and post a lovely photo of your furry friend in festive spirit!

This need not involve a Christmas costume – it could just be with a festive background – anything that will make us smile and will show off your pet to the best of their ability!

Young Minds Matter provides 1:1 mentors for students in schools, building resilience, self-esteem and confidence and we provide this service free of charge, simply so that no child who needs support goes without.

We have waiting lists of students as well as waiting lists of schools hence the more funds we can raise the sooner we can access more students. Young people’s mental health is at crisis point; they have been hit hard since lockdown especially and we would love your support with this challenge.

Here’s what you need to do:
1: Add a festive picture of your lovable furry friend to your social media feed or story
2: Tag 3 friends (and us!) with furry friends and challenge them to do the same.
3: Text PETS to 70490 to donate £2 (texts will cost the donation amount plus one standard network rate message)

Alternatively click this link to donate – https://lnkd.in/eJ7NXasZ

Our Young Minds Matter 2022 Channel Swim team were pleased to be finalists of the BBC CWR Make a Difference Awards 2023.

Sue Roberts (Founder), Eitan and Hayden (Two members of our swim team) and their families attended the ceremony on Sunday 17th September.

Sadly it wasn’t to be on the night and although we didn’t win, it was a n hour to be amongst 30 individuals, community organisations and charities who are all doing amazing inspirational work for the benefit of others.

In 2022 the teenage boys who swam the channel, which is in a challenge itself, but they managed to raise a huge amount of £15,000 all for YMM.

We look forward to 2024 where will be swimming the channel again, but this time with two-4-person relay teams.

Trigger Warning – discussion of eating disorders

Sofia is a 21 year old student currently studying for a Masters in Environmental Science. We asked if she would share some of her experiences with eating disorders, and how she is finding the current lockdown.

I was first diagnosed with anorexia nervosa in 2018 after my first year of university and whilst I like to consider myself well on the road to recovery, lockdown has definitely had a significant effect on that journey. I think for a lot of us lockdown has left us feeling out of control, not knowing when things will be getting back to normal, and for me it’s this lack of control that at times, has meant that my old eating disorder habits have crept back into the forefront of my life. 

What I would usually do as coping mechanisms (like going to the gym or eating in a social setting with friends) have instead been replaced by feelings of intense isolation, the same daily walks around the block and even more time at home to sit with my own thoughts and feelings. Controlling my food intake and obsessing over exercise have been at times the only thing I’ve felt any control over. Although thankfully, I am now much better at stopping the old habits from spiralling. Recovery for me over the years has involved a lot of things: CBT therapy, antidepressants, anxiety medication, counsellors and the countless meal plans that I do now help me to feel much better equipped to deal with things than I used to be. 

Lockdown has been tough mentally for us all and so we should all be so proud of how we’ve coped in such uncertain times. It’s hard and unsettling to re-discover parts of your eating disorder that you thought you’d dealt with and so I think it’s always worth reminding ourselves that we’re not alone in this silent struggle. 

The road to recovery will never be straight forward, I’ve learnt that, but please never forget how far you’ve truly come. Speaking out, sharing experiences, talking to people you trust is never a wrong choice when it comes to your mental health. Be kind to your mind and, as we ease back into some sort of normality, don’t forget just how resilient and how strong you already are.

The team at Young Minds Matter created this video during lockdown to provide a reminder to you that throughout this time, you are not alone. If you are suffering with any issue, there are places and people that can help. We have compiled a list of some of these services which you can access here: ymm.org.uk/notalone.

Young Minds Matter truly believes that music has the power to transform mental health and lift people’s spirits. We have seen this first hand at our YMM concerts, where young people have the opportunity to listen to, create, and perform music that allows them to express their emotions. We hope that this video helps to bring a smile to your face.