Illustrations by Ida Henrich

Life after Education

Our previous research blog update ended with the opening of our ‘Life after Education’ survey. The period immediately following education has increasingly come to our attention as a particularly vulnerable time for people, as many feel they suddenly have their support cut and are faced with pressures from all angles of life. This is particularly problematic when you consider that – in our ‘Surviving Education’ survey – 66.67% of people say that they ‘regularly’ experienced mental health issues during education and a further 28% say they ‘sometimes’ struggled. In a separate Instagram poll, 83% of 128 participants agree that ‘The Graduate Blues’ are an important problem that we should continue to investigate and highlight.

“In an Instagram poll, 83% of 128 participants said that ‘The Graduate Blues’ are a problem we should continue to investigate and highlight.”

Our recent Twitter poll identified some of the stress factors that may cause mental distress for recent graduates. The most popular was financial pressures (40%) – followed by job searching (35%), and loneliness (21%). 4% of respondents selected “other things” and expanded on this to highlight examples such as family issues and not being able to delay making life decisions and growing up.

To support this ‘Life after Education’ theme, at the beginning of summer we knew many students would be starting summer jobs, entering the workplace or beginning placements/internships. We asked Twitter users what they felt the most important thing their (potential) employer could do to support their mental health during this time of transition. The majority (66%) feel that having a supportive manager would be the most effective thing. 14% say workplace adjustments, 10% believe promoting wellbeing would be effective and 10% are drawn to a culture of inclusivity as a good mental health support.

 

Pride Polls

In June our digital magazine was Pride themed, so our social media platforms were used to look into the mental health supports that could ensure LGBTQ+ people’s needs are catered for. We asked Twitter users if they had ever struggled with their sexuality and, if so, what supports they felt would be most vital to put in place to aid emotional wellbeing while coming to terms with queer identity. With 67% saying inclusive sex education would have been the most helpful thing, we took to Instagram and Twitter to ask how many people had received LGBTQ+ inclusive sex education. A staggering 100% of Twitter respondents say they had not received queer-inclusive sex education, and 94% of Instagram respondents say they had also not received it.

In a later Twitter poll, 100% of people felt that society would benefit from an inclusive government campaign designed to reduce prejudices towards LGBTQ+ people and promote LGBTQ+ emotional wellbeing. Discussion suggested that perhaps this campaign could highlight the impact prejudice has on the mental health of LGBTQ+ people.

 

Mental Health Policy

The reason we are carrying out all this research is in the hope of informing mental health policy. With that in mind, we have been running a survey specifically themed around people’s opinions on current mental health policies. 86.11% of respondents to this survey believe that the government isn’t doing enough to support the mental health of young people. The remaining 13.89% selected “not sure”, which left 0% believing the government is doing enough. Some interesting recurring comments which arise in this survey include: “We need mental health policy which is proactive, not reactive” and “[there is] too much box ticking and sloganism without real commitment to understanding”.

“86.11% of respondents to this survey believe that the government isn’t doing enough to support the mental health of young people.”

The next few weeks will be a busy time for Fearless Femme as we begin some social media research about body image, as well as beginning our mid-year research report, which will highlight some of the main trends we have identified in the mental health of young people.