Despite the sheer quantity of ways that one could begin this article, it’s perhaps more representative of, here at Soulscape, our sentiments on the matter and our general ethos as a whole to put it bluntly:
Being a young person in 21st century society is absolutely, overwhelmingly, and unapologetically terrifying.
And yet, we are so woefully ill-equipped to providing teenagers and young adults with the skills and coping mechanisms desperately needed to navigate a world as daunting as the one that they’re subjected to living in. Mental health services are collapsing, providers of mental health care are widely understaffed, the system is inundated with increasing numbers and decreasing funds. Despite a supposed 8.6% increase of NHS budget to mental health services in 2016/17 and promises from George Osborne this fiscal year to ‘ring-fence’ an allocated extra £1.5 billion in funding to the NHS itself, this doesn’t discourage the widespread media attention on the labelled ‘humanitarian crisis’ now facing our medical services.
One in ten young people now suffer from a diagnosable mental health condition, and over the last decade, hospitals have seen a 68% rise in admissions for self harm; such alarming statistics only cover the extremities of the adolescent mental health crisis, with the general mental wellbeing of teenagers who don’t qualify for medical assistance but still need emotional support largely sidelined.
It’s understandable to ask how this relates to the work of Soulscape; even familiarity with our Inside Out project launched this year, aimed towards promoting recognition towards and support for mental wellbeing in young people seems a considerable stretch from the devastating situation of our mental health services. However, the very essence of Soulscape encompasses an idea that even at its most simplistic, rawest level, any human emotion or experience is deeply valid, and can be used as a catalyst for change.
In light of the current state of affairs in conjunction with research gathered from our very first Inside Out Workshop, the level of insight that young people provided into what it’s like to be an adolescent within our society alongside a subject as sensitive as mental health was particularly humbling. Moodboards were created in response to three basic emotions: Happiness, sadness and anger. There were no rules, no guidelines and no restrictions – all responses you see were crafted by their own hands, are their own very real thoughts and ideas, and come in an illuminating range of mediums, from drawings, to words, to newspaper cutouts. I invite you to journey with us during the Inside Out project to further explore what was created by our young people, and to generate further introspection into a matter that’s so important to us here at Soulscape.