Effects of lockdown on young people's mental health

Lockdown has been an effect on everyone especially young people’s mental health as we have all had to adapt to new changes such as staying at home more, not being able to see our friends as often as we would like to, and not being able to go to the non-essential shops.

Thinking about my future

Being concerned about the future has definitely been on everyone’s minds especially those who are still in education because we don’t know how to move forward once the pandemic is over and things start to slowly return back to normal. We don’t know what sort of action to take once things start going back to normal as we don’t have the same sort of support we would have at school like career advice or who to talk to about our mental health. We slowly start to rely on technology for everything that is related to work or school such as Zoom to video call for meetings.

Tips on how to cope

It is hard to know what to do with yourself especially with what’s going on in the world but, there are ways to try and stay positive such as:

if possible, take time each day to be with your family, for example, try arranging a fixed time to eat dinner together so then you won’t feel so alone

Arrange a day to video call with friends you have not seen for a while

Try switching off the TV to talk or play a game with your children, friends, or family

Go on a nice walk for a while without distractions

Volunteer at a local school, hospital, or community group. Find out how to volunteer on the GOV.UK website