Using technology in the fight against mental health problems

Abstract

Mental health is a broad topic. It is a topic that is often associated with mental illness and often a difficult subject to ask questions about or to discuss, especially in a classroom. Yet this shouldn’t be the case, as both mental wellness and ill-health shape the way in which we live and act. While some people consistently enjoy mental wellness, figures from the Mental Health Foundation (2013) reveal that one in four adults encounter episodes of mental illness. Being aware of this is vital to how we best support young people as learners and as they move into adulthood. It is particularly important because the figures around mental ill-health are stark. According to a literature review from Right Here, a project run by the Mental Health Foundation and Paul Hamlyn Foundation, one in six young people (aged 16 to 24 years) have a mental illness (Right Here, 2008). That is close to 1.2 million 16 to 24-year-olds currently facing a range of complex challenges in addition to the already difficult time of being a teenager and young adult. Simply as an indicator of how big an issue this is, those figures could equate to 16% of your class. The same review, entitled Young People Aged 16 to 25: The promotion of mental health and wellbeing and the early intervention in mental health problems, also found that one in 10 children aged five to 16 has a diagnosable mental health problem. What’s more, in financial terms, mental illness is estimated to cost £10 billion to the UK economy each year according to the report How Mental Health Loses Out in the NHS by the Centre for Economic