Time to Change Mental Health: Start Talking! With Time to Change, we are trying to tackle mental health stigma amongst young people. Use this presentation in an assembly or tutor time to get your students talking about mental health and to start exploring the issue of stigma surrounding it. To follow this up, use our tutor time activities and quiz, all of which are available at rednoseday.com/secondaryresources

Time to Change Time to Change is a growing movement of people who want to change how we all think and act about mental health problems. Too many young people with mental health problems are made to feel isolated and ashamed. The way you behave towards them can change their life.

Attention seeking? Explain to students that they’re going to watch a short video created with spoken word artist Suli Breaks. The film was inspired by young people with mental health problems telling Time to Change that they are often called ‘attention seeking’. Have the students ever heard the term ‘attention seeking’ being used? In what context? Show students the video. You should be able to stream it from this presentation by clicking on the Play button. Please ensure that external content is enabled. If you experience any problems with this you can download the video (or stream it) at rednoseday.com/secondaryresources

What do you think? Chat to the person next to you: “They viewed me as weak and making it up. Nobody took me seriously.” Chat to the person next to you: What do you think about what Suli Breaks is saying? Can you relate to what he is describing? Natasha

The impact of being judged “Problems of mental health are hard enough. Being judged makes it harder.” 1 in 3 young people in a classroom will have a mental health problem. Not judging someone and just being a good friend can make a huge difference! Share some of these statistics about the impact of being judged on young people with mental health problems. Time to Change surveyed 541 young people and they reported experiencing stigma from: Friends (60%) Parents (50%) Boyfriends and girlfriends (45%) Teachers (43%) 28% said negative reactions from others had made them want to give up on life.

What can we do? “They treated me like they always had, and kept in contact… even when I was hiding.” We can be more open about mental health problems than ever before. What can we say or do to help a classmate or friend? How can we all avoid making judgements at our school? Katie Ask all the students to pick one thing they will do support their friends or to look after their own mental health. Explain that they can find more information about mental health problems on the Time to Change website at time-to-change.org.uk

Thank you