Space to Breathe - Youth Workers Mental Health Research Findings 

According to NHS digital one in six children aged five to 16 were identified as having a probable mental health problem in July 2021, a huge increase from one in nine in 2017*. If you work with young people, you’re probably acutely aware of the need. In a survey done by Young Minds in summer 2020,83% of young people with mental health needs agreed that the coronavirus pandemic had made their mental health worse**and one BBC headline back in summer 2021 warned that parents were reporting a ‘tsunami of school anxiety’ cases.

But what about the youth workers? How are they doing? Is this problem isolated to young people? In the aftermath of the pandemic and based on my experience of working with school staff on their wellbeing, I had a hunch; a hunch that maybe those involved in delivering youth work might also be struggling. And so we set about surveying youth workers to find out what their mental health and wellbeing was like. The findings were enlightening and confirmed some suspicions.

30% of youth workers surveyed reported having poor or very poor mental health, with 1 in 7 reported that they had had a medical diagnosis of anxiety in the last year and many others reporting that they had experienced symptoms often associated with anxiety such as insomnia, muscle tension and difficulty concentrating, all of which they believed to be linked to their work. Despite this, only around half of those surveyed said they would feel comfortable talking to their employers/leaders about their mental health and wellbeing. The survey also found that 1 in 5 intend to leave their job in the next year.

It wasn’t all bad news. Some are doing well. And we wanted to find out what made this so. Of course, this is complex because our mental health is affected by a combination of external and internal factors, but there seemed to be some features present in those with good mental health that may provide some clues to the things that might support youth workers to be more ‘well’.

Ensuring good mental health is in part the responsibility of those who employ or lead youth workers. Much like plants, people grow and thrive when the conditions around them are right. But being human (rather than a plant!) involves having choice and agency which means we can all make choices about how we look after our mental health and wellbeing regardless of our conditions. That’s not to say we should accept poor conditions – in fact one finding of the survey was that youth workers seem to have relatively low expectations of what their employers/leaders can and will do for them and one thing that might improve youth worker wellbeing might be for youth workers to become more assertive about their needs.

We hope that our report will give youth workers more confidence to ask for things like regular line management, supervision and access to wellbeing training and support. We also hope the report will emphasise the need for increased support of mental health and wellbeing support around youth workers,  and encourage those employing youth workers to think this though better.

One thing is clear; if youth workers are going to better support young people with their mental health and wellbeing, they need to be given the resources, tools and support to support their own mental health and wellbeing.  Every youth worker knows that young people often take far more from following the example of the youth worker rather than their explicit teaching! It’s obvious that burnt out and anxious youth workers have less capacity for supporting young people emotionally, mentally or spiritually. It’s my belief that if we get it ‘right’ for youth workers, they WILL get it right for the young people they work with.
 

What the survey revealed about what youth workers might do to support their mental health and wellbeing

Take time out for leisure.

• Those who reported better wellbeing seemed to regularly engage in their hobbies and interests. Sport seemed to be a particular feature for those with better wellbeing. Prioritising time off that allows you to do things you enjoy can create energy, motivation, balance. Self care is not selfish, it’s an investment that allows you to give more in the end.

Connect with friends and family.

• Better wellbeing was associated with spending more time with friends and family whereas those with poorer mental health spent less time with friends and family. Making and maintaining friendships can be hard work, but it seems this is another investment worth making.  

Spending time engaging in spiritual activities.

• Whether it be prayer, worship, bible reading, meditation or mindfulness, taking time to do something that connects you with God seems (unsurprisingly) to be important. Those with better wellbeing did this more.

The challenge with all of these is that whilst they support better wellbeing, doing them less may be as much a consequence of poor mental health as the cause. Those dealing with poor mental health may have less energy and capacity to do these things and being told ‘you should pray more’ is unlikely to be helpful! And so what’s important is that help is available.

Help in the form of supportive friendships, help in the form of supportive employers, help in the form of supportive professionals. Help that knows how to respond lovingly and constructively to someone who is struggling. Help that doesn’t stigmatise, minimise, over simplify or spiritualise a problem. To be well, it’s important we know how, when and where to get help from. Asking for help, being honest about how we’re doing isn’t easy, but vitally important.

We need to start seeing it as a sign of strength, not weakness. If you’re a youth worker, we’d love you to read our report and we’d  be really interested to hear your perspective on what you read. What do you think would be most beneficial in supporting your mental health and wellbeing? We’d love to work with you and others to get this in place. If you’re involved in employing youth workers, we’d also love you to read our report. There’s some serious messages in there about what you might need to do to ensure better mental health and retention of your youth worker.

What support do you need to  implement the recommendations. We’d love to work with you and others to get this in place! It's my view that just like physical health,  positive wellbeing doesn’t happen by accident – it takes intention, investment. It’s affected by the environment and culture around me, but it’s also affected by the small everyday choices I make. And when I’m struggling, it’s dependent on the support that’s available to me. If we can start to get it more ‘right’ for our youth workers, the work we do with young people will only get better. This doesn’t feel like an option, but an absolute necessity.

Read the full report [here].

* https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-of-children-and-young-people-in-england/2021-follow-up-to-the-2017-survey ** https://www.youngminds.org.uk/media/355gyqcd/coronavirus-report-summer-2020-final.pdf

Ben Harper works for Space to Breathe. Space to Breathe is a community interest company that aims to make wellbeing simple, accessible and contextual.