The Prince of Wales visited the project in west London which provides 24/7 free text message support to young people with problems, including suicidal thoughts.
Report by Ajagbef. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Report by Ajagbef. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00So these guys have been really involved in the merger, the plans around the merger, so
00:24obviously they were the mix of Heath Advisory Board and now MHI Heath Advisory Board.
00:29And Michael Edward of MHI.
00:35We didn't chat about MHI last night, did we? You were talking more about the new services as well, since merging.
00:40So of course we had these ones before, which was of course Sharks Crisis Service and our peer-moderated partners.
00:48But of course then we had our community places where people could talk about any issue.
00:55And now we're not printing these guys, so you're a shell.
00:59They're your expats.
01:02But yeah, so they're texting a shell and they may be directed towards single person accounts.
01:08How do you guys triage to single service? How does that work?
01:13Yeah, so we often send resources to Texas and that's when we might signpost to different services.
01:17So it's a really great way for Texas to also get the service but also to receive other signposting
01:22to enhance that kind of support after texting it as well.
01:26Is there a certain threshold to where you then are offered a single service or can anyone ask for it at any time?
01:31Well, with everyone we talk, I've never spoken to anyone, but I'd like to.
01:35And that's where it would come in being like, well actually, we've got the mix, we've got all this other stuff.
01:40This is some stuff we can show you, maybe you'd like to click in here and get some.
01:44So it would be something that came up in conversation as an opportunity for them to signpost to.
01:49And has that grown in popularity? When you first started offering it, how did people take it?
01:54We've been fully immersed in that expertise of being champions and that's kind of driven that change,
01:59which I think is what mental health is made of. It captures so beautifully and why it's going to be so life-changing for so many young people.
02:05And what are you seeing on the chapter of volunteering?
02:08Are we getting younger in terms of the age group we're reaching in NHI?
02:12What sort of themes of oldness are you seeing?
02:16Everything you could possibly imagine.
02:19Yeah, whatever.
02:21It's something that's quite bad, but then there's self-harm, a lot of self-harm, a lot of talk about suicide,
02:27a lot of depression and anxious thoughts, things like that.
02:30Literally everything.
02:32Yeah, everything.
02:36In many ways, it's good that you guys are seeing that, because that means that we're digging into some of the really hidden stuff in society.
02:44It's growing, really. So it's always a mixed balance.
02:48It is. It's sad and happy. There's always a person in crisis.
02:53But what you want to do is empower young people with the tools and the knowledge first-hand,
02:57sort of like a first-aid kit for your mental health.
03:00Yeah, just sort of coming at this, you know what to do when you're anxious and stuff like that.
03:04So we've been developing self-paced learning tools.
03:07Self-paced because you can access it whenever you want to, learn whenever you want to.
03:11Matter of resource and all of those sorts of things.
03:15And test the amount of it as well.
03:17Yeah, we're very excited to get going.
03:21And what would you, from the merger in particular, what excites you guys?
03:25We're all good at texting, really, but it's always a bit of a, I find anyway, you want a bit of a human-to-human contact,
03:31just to really get the body language and everything interlocked.
03:34By one-to-one, you are sort of expanding that relationship.
03:39You can get a bit more of them now and you can maybe help more than just that crisis intervention.
03:44So it's quite exciting.
03:45Yeah, and we've learnt a lot from our stay.
03:48We wanted to replicate something like that.
03:51So in October, we've come up with Swim to Smile, which is going to be something quite similar,
03:56aimed at hoping to raise money for young people's wellbeing.
03:59So it might be something for you to get involved in.
04:03Get involved in lots of things.
04:04So add it to the list.
04:06There's also parachuting from an aeroplane.
04:09I'm a swimmer myself, so I can help you too.
04:11But we need help.
04:12I think this is a great point to segue to the website.
04:18This website, we talk about it probably most of our time during our youth board meetings.
04:23It's been in development for the last couple of years, before my time.
04:28I think these two are very happy to see the end product.
04:31This is going to be launched on Mental Health Awareness Week in May.
04:36So this is not the final product, but we wanted to really show you some of the websites.
04:40There were many articles about young deaf people that I offered to volunteer to write some articles.
04:46I know I think one or two others have done some writing around the article.
04:50And one of our key, very trending topics is navigating universities with anxiety,
04:56which I'm sure many of us at some point have experienced.
05:00So very clean outlook.
05:02This is how most of our articles will be looking like.
05:06We've got some really interesting...
05:08And it's just so... I think it's so friendly.
05:11I could look at this website all day.
05:13So I hope that young people...
05:17And I'm interested, when you're doing your links and you're sharing your links on the conversation,
05:21do you use stuff for the website too?
05:23No, and this is what's really helpful with some information there or specific support.
05:27But it's hard to find resources.
05:30I mean, it's good, but it's sort of a little bit limited.
05:33So this is where I'm excited by the merger.
05:35So we've brought in the mix.
05:37Now we basically exist in the same space as all of the resources.
05:40So we don't have to be signposting people to loads of different places or NHS leaflets from like 2000.
05:46I just want to read more stuff.
05:48So I felt really good.
05:49I just wanted to text more and try to chill them out and kind of bring them through that difficult moment.
05:54But the quality of the resource you put through is really important.
05:57And I just wonder, how do you bridge that gap between providing enough advice, being online enough,
06:04but also giving them more stuff to read?
06:07Yeah, and I think also...
06:08I mean, I think the thing about challenges in your life,
06:10without having to feel like you have to be in crisis to qualify for help.
06:14And that's the really nice thing about this is that it's really accessible to anyone.
06:20And we're not saying you have to be in a really bad place to use it.
06:23And also, we're giving people, I hope, which is a really exciting bit,
06:27the opportunity to use the services and then contribute to them.
06:30So, you know, a lot of...
06:32I would, yeah, sure.
06:33You know, having thoughts of killing yourself.
06:34But actually, the system's understood that.
06:37Yeah, absolutely.
06:38So let's go for number two again.
06:40Would you like to...
06:41Really, really great to hear that from people tested.
06:44And, yeah, you're one of the first people.
06:46You just get to the whole point about prevention.
06:50So I'm just glad that it's something that we are really pioneering to,
06:54and hopefully that, you know, everyone gets behind on it,
06:58because it's something that's really affecting people today.
07:01Brilliant.
07:02Thank you so much.
07:03And, yeah, well done for giving us so much time to get it to where it is.
07:06It's only going, which is fantastic.
07:08Great.
07:10Thank you so much.
07:12Have a good time.
07:13Right.
07:15Last time we spoke...
07:28No, well...
07:29Yeah.
07:30It's true, though.
07:31There's an example.
07:33A lot of the emails and shout-outs come from other people
07:36posting on social media about us.
07:38And so I happen to watch it, and I'm like,
07:41well, we're just not...
07:45One of the reasons it's not, as you can see,
07:47is that, you know, the conversations that are happening hourly,
07:51it increases quite a lot of...
08:02All I can do...
08:10I'm particularly interested in how we can use this data
08:13to turn for opinions and...
08:17I'm just going to see if...
08:20It's a lot of data matching the right outcomes.
08:34I only have one point to which you...
08:38It brings up...
08:40Because of the shout-out services,
08:42the pressure being that...
08:49So how can we use...
08:51Also, the data...
09:03Identify those conversations...
09:21See if...
09:24Yeah, that's the big level...
09:29That's the exact tool we can use in the future to do that.
09:32And they reach out.
09:33And I think there's a reason you see things like MyAI
09:36really being one of the first cases of...
09:42And I think balancing...
09:45...trial and error,
09:46and getting everyone to understand what are the good terms
09:49and what are the terms that people are using
09:51when they're really interested in doing business
09:53is really, really important.
10:04It's really interesting,
10:05because what you've read, completely correctly identified,
10:08is about how the data is being made.
10:11And at the moment, most platforms,
10:13Google in particular,
10:15if someone is trying to do a crisis tent,
10:17we deliberately come down to people with adverts
10:20and to do the tracking on specific terms,
10:23because we know that's a vulnerable area.
10:25Academics, operants...
10:34No, it's just...
10:35I like to think what a fantastic organisation Google is,
10:39and I'm always thinking about the scale.
10:41How do you get people to do more than this?
10:43It's an interesting area,
10:44and I feel like a really good opportunity.
10:46Yeah, and we would welcome...
10:48...people of some type who are able to support,
10:51not just us, but the chances...
10:54We'd welcome people from other social media platforms
10:57and others to try and...
11:02It would always be a lot of fun
11:04for people like you and me.
11:07...to actually still talk to people.
11:14That's it.
11:25On the 27th anniversary this year,
11:27we've got new banners,
11:30and also new photos,
11:32and lots of flowers.
11:33And going further afield,
11:35in two years, the 30th anniversary,
11:37we're going to have...
11:39Your mother's name in roses.
11:41It's about what they do.
11:43It's my 70th birthday on...
11:47I think we'll have it,
11:48so we won't have it in this background.
11:49Oh, that's very kind of you.
11:51Well, enjoy your day.
11:52I hope I'll see you on the day.
11:53I'll take your invitation.
11:54Yeah, and you might not recognise me,
11:55because I've got a new suit.
11:56Have you?
11:57Oh, fantastic.
11:58And I'll have everything dry-cleaned.
11:59You're very smart.
12:00Absolutely.
12:01Thank you very much.
12:03I remember that day.
12:04Yeah, me too.
12:05Yeah, me too.
12:06Is that you there?
12:07No, it's his personal bag.
12:08That's the only thing I remember.
12:09It's very important.
12:10Oh, no, it's very important.
12:11But, I mean,
12:13what is the most important thing is that
12:15he's still...