Over the past decade, awareness of mental health issues has increased, but they are still often underestimated. An estimated 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives. Young people in education are particularly affected, with stress from exams and relationships dismissed as phases when they could be signs of worse problems. A documentary explores the lack of support for students with mental health issues and aims to increase understanding of how common these problems are among their peers. It features in-depth interviews with students and staff at a college to provide insight into how mental health affects students and the help available.

1. 17/11/15 – Mental Health in Education
Over the past decade there has been a rise in mental health awareness, but it still
underestimated as a serious medical condition. It is estimated that 1 in 4 people will
experience problems with mental health at some point in their life and 1 in 10 young
people will experience a mental health problem.
The extent of support for mental health doesn’t seem to be radically increasing
either especially with planned cuts by the government from £5.86 billion to £5.74
billion by 2019.
An area where mental health is incredibly underestimated is with young people in
the education system. The stress of exams and friendships I too easily shrugged off
as a ‘phase’ when in reality it can be something much worse. Research by the BBC
discovered that more than one in six students said they believed at least a quarter of
students in their school or college were affected by mental health problems.
Could underwhelming amounts of attention and solutions, be due to lack of
awareness and ignorance, or is it just because people don’t care and have the view
point that mentally ill people should just ‘cheer up’?
Reports suggest one issue with diagnosing these problems is because students are
simply not confident enough to speak to a doctor about how they feel. Perhaps
because barely any school curriculums go towards informing students about the
issue, with two-thirds of teachers admitting their school did not devote enough time
and resources to mental health issues.
BBC 2 is presenting a groundbreaking documentary focusing on how those in
education are affected by mental health problems and why there is such as distinct
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2. lack of help for them.
This groundbreaking documentary will explore the ins and outs of the education
system and those students involved who suffer from mental health issues and why
they may not be receiving the help they require. We will also encounter various
students and expose their knowledge and how aware they are that their colleagues
that they meet every day may be suffering from health issues without them
knowing.
The filmwill present various in-depth and revolutionary interviews with students
and members of staff from Solihull Sixth Form College. This includes Psychology
professional and teacher Tom Krawec and academic coach Rebecca Parsons, who
both have a wealth of experience in the matter. These interviews not only give an
insight into the help available to students, but also to how they are affected. With
Tom Krawec stating, “In terms of people who are affected by mental health, 100% of
people in the UK are affected one way or another at some point in their life”.
The team behind the film discovered the shocking truth of how aware students our
about the affects mental health problems have on students with incredibly shocking
results begging the question, Is enough being done in the standard curriculum to
ensure young people are well informed on the serious topic surrounding mental
health.
We caught up with an exclusive interview with the creators of the film for a Q&A to
get the inside scoop on the theory and passion behind the film.
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3. Q What was the idea behind creating this documentary and what message are you
aiming to convey?
A Our main aims were to create a more represented awareness within teenagers
about the severity of mental health and hope to allow them to understand more
abut what their fellow students may be going through without them even knowing.
Q What was the motive when choosing Solihull Sixth Form College to do a lot of the
filming?
A We felt the college had a huge variety of social interest with students having
many different hobbies therefore there would be a lot of different points of view
and different amounts of knowledge about the topic. The staff members there are
also very qualified and were exceptionally helpful when it came to getting interviews
and other information.
Q Did you find it difficult to explore a lot of areas of the subject while also trying not
to sound insensitive about a sensitive issue?
A Throughout all of the filming we tried as hard as possible make sure the content
we were producing would not offend anyone. This meant keeping interview
questions impersonal and also not scrutinizing those who are affected by mental
health problems and may watch the documentary.
This Q&A has given us a good idea of what we can expect from the film, which will
be airing on BBC 2 on Saturday 6th February 2016 and will arm teenagers with the
information they need to fight mental health.
ENDS