In November 2024, Sophie Kerrigan MSYP and Skye Morgan MSYP gave a speech to the First Minister and their Cabinet on ending gender-based violence at the Annual Cabinet Meeting with Children and Young People.
Reflecting on the events of the day, Skye said:
The Cabinet Takeover this year gave us the amazing opportunity to discuss one of SYP’s main policy goals of mandatory mental health training. We discussed the impact COVID-19 had on mental health, the impact that stigma has on mental health, improved education around mental health as well as young people’s mental health services. We called on the Scottish Government to improve mental health education and to ring-fence funding and invest in community-based mental health services in order to alleviate the pressure on CAHMS.
I felt that this was a massive step in the right direction of SYP and I look forward to working with the government more on these issues in the future.
You can read our speech below:
Sophie:
My name is Sophie Kerrigan, I am the MSYP for Stirling, I am 17 years old, and I have never been taught about what mental health is.
In 2020, we were forced to be trapped in our rooms, unable to socialise with those around us and banned from seeing our loved ones. It’s not a surprise that this social isolation took a massive toll on our mental health, let alone on our schoolwork.
I was 12 when I was herded into an assembly hall, given a computer and told we were going to go on a 2-week holiday. Years of coming back and forth and an overall year of lost time took its toll. Many young people my age don’t know how to socialize, to talk to people or how to deal with their mental health. So, four years later we chose our National 5’s and Higher Exams where we received no hints for our papers, yet our mental health was still being affected by Covid. I dreamt of being a doctor but due to Covid and a lack of mental health education, my grades were affected, and I couldn’t pursue my dreams. Imagine how many other lawyers, teachers, doctors, future first ministers couldn’t follow through on their dreams because they were struggling with their mental health. With good quality mental health education and training, we can eliminate this.
All I know about my mental health is thanks to SYP but that shouldn’t be the case. All young people should be educated and supported with their mental health. To achieve this, we need to see:
- Mental health education incorporated in school curriculums.
- Mental health training and education for adults working with young people.
- More long-term sustainable funding for mental health services.
In future, I want to see mental health education implemented within school from an early age. I want my children – and children today – to live in a world where they can go to school and know where to go for help with their mental health and be able to openly talk about it because they are educated about it and know that they should not be ashamed. At SYP’s recent Sitting in the Scottish Parliament, 88% of MSYPs agreed to pass my motion that called for mental health education to be included within the school curriculum.
But it’s not only young people who need this education. SYP’s current national campaign calls for adults who work with young people to receive mandatory mental health training and education for the betterment of them and society. With the training on mental health in their back pocket, life would be easier for all. That anxious moment you felt as you left home for the first time? You would know how to breathe through it. That moment when you are applying for your dream job but there is that little voice in the back of your head telling you to stop? You could tell it no. That first seat in an exam hall where the pressure of your future at 15 years old is on your shoulders? You would know there are other pathways and ways to work through this fear.
Skye:
Hello, my name is Skye Morgan, I am also 17 years old, I am the MSYP for LGBT Youth Scotland and I am a non-binary young person. You might wonder why I mentioned this fact but it’s important because as a non-binary person and member of the LGBTQ+ community, I am more at risk of mental health issues. It’s important to acknowledge that fact but it shouldn’t define a young person. I am going to talk about the effects stigma has on mental health and why we need more long-term sustainable funding for mental health services.
A SeeMe report found that 71% of people with a mental health condition experienced stigma and discrimination. If one in three people in Scotland experience mental health problems, and around two thirds of those face stigma and discrimination, that’s over a million people in this country who are being treated unfairly when they’re struggling. We need to break down the walls of stigma, but we can’t do that without having open discussions about mental health and the right mental health education in place for young people and the adults working with them.
Young people’s mental health services aren’t the best right now, with many young people being put on waitlists. I am currently on a waitlist with the Youth Health Service, and I haven’t heard anything in almost 3 months now, my friend has been on the waitlist for almost 5 years. In 2017 SAMH found that nearly 7,000 CYP were being rejected from CAMHS every year. In 2023 that number has not changed. 19 young people every day are being denied the support they may desperately need. Look around the room and think about how many of us that would be. The target this Government set for 90% of CYP being seen by CAMHS within 18 weeks has never been met. About 1 in 10 children and young people between the ages of five and 16 had a mental illness that could be diagnosed clinically, but they lacked the services to support them.
This needs to change. We need to see more long-term sustainable funding for mental health services. In particular, the Government should ring-fence funding to ensure that mental health services consistently receive the vital funds they need and invest further in community-based mental health support to improve early intervention support, relieve the pressure on CAHMS and help meet the goal this Government set.
Article 24 of the UNCRC says young people have the right to the best possible health, including mental health, and this right is currently not being met. I urge you all to fix this system because young people are suffering, and they deserve to live in a country where they can access the support they need. Young people are the future and if they are unable to live in the present and pursue their dreams then how will that affect the world?
