World Children's Day 2023 - Mental Health Engagement Event

World Children's Day Mental Health Engagement Event - 20th November 2023

The Redbridge Children and Young People’s Policy Development Committee is a group of councillors who are working together to develop new policy proposals for Redbridge. The group, chaired by Cllr Saima Ahmed, decided that mental health was one of its key priorities and was keen to engage with young people to learn more.

A group of young people aged 11-25+ met with councillors on World Children’s Day in the Town Hall to discuss the barriers that they and their peers may face when accessing support for mental health services, whether that is in a school setting, in the community or in direct contact with the council.

The young people shared that social media pressures, anxiety around their personal information remaining confidential, stigma around mental health from their families, friends and/or communities, and a lack of trusted peer support networks all pose challenges to their mental health.

The councillors took this feedback on board following dedicated discussion groups and will feed this into their final recommendations report in 2024.