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As part of Children’s Mental Health Week, Sophie, a young person who has attended and now volunteers at IAF has written a blog about the impact of anxiety and mental health.
After struggling with anxiety from a young age, I established that my social anxiety was also consuming the start of my adult life. While many of my secondary school classmates were at university, starting careers and socialising, I struggled to friends, work or do the “simplest” tasks, such as leaving the house. I often thought about how much easier my life would be if I did not have anxiety following me around like this monstrous, haunting shadow.
Covid-19 had a colossal impact on my mental health and I realised how much I was struggling to return to the outside world. I hated crowds ten times more than I had before, and I was on a constant germ watch, terrified of catching the dreaded virus. Facebook conspiracists, anti-vaxxers and my own late-night thoughts concocted the perfect recipe for an anxiety sufferer’s worst nightmare.
After speaking to my GP and my work coach at the Job Centre, they introduced me to the Inspire & Achieve Foundation along with the Prince’s Trust Team Programme. I confess I did turn it down on multiple occasions before taking a leap and saying yes. I didn’t know it when I started by those twelve weeks would be the start of my adult life.
Presented with life-changing opportunities to take part in thing I had never done before, make new friends and socialise, my confidence skyrocketed, and I finally felt like I was thriving.
I’m still facing barriers in terms of my anxiety and now I have another global crisis weighing me down. The cost-of-living crisis is consuming my thoughts. Do we have enough money to get by till the next payday? Waiting for the next cost-of-living payment to come through. I have experienced first-hand how the cost-of-living crisis is affecting those already suffering from life altering mental health problems. Many of the young people at Inspire and Achieve must prioritise food and heating over socialising with friends, triggering a loneliness epidemic.
Although more conversations are being made, there is still a stigma surrounding mental health. Occasionally, young people face closed doors when seeking help. However, as I experienced during my time as a participating student in the Prince’s Trust Team programme, there are a lot of people out there who want to help.
I am filled with anticipation and excitement to provide support to current and future young people at the Inspire and Achieve Foundation as a volunteer.