Mental health illnesses are becoming more common not only in adults but also in children. Around 1 in 4 children aged 16 or below, show signs of a mental health problem and more than half continue with these problems throughout adulthood. In 2004, around 10% of children were diagnosed with a mental health illness. To help visualise this statistic, this equates to 3 children per school classroom.

The lives of people with mental health problems can change drastically and can become a huge struggle. Not only must they suffer with the symptoms caused by the illness but also struggle and experience discrimination from other people around them based on common misconceptions. This can affect people’s jobs, housing, health care and inevitably their quality of life.

Study’s show that the majority of the population in the United States and Western Europe have stigmatising attitudes towards mental health illnesses. Nearly 9 out of 10 people with mental health illnesses experience discrimination.

The aim of the project are to:
• reduce stigma and negative attitudes of young people towards mental health and people suffering from mental illness.
• help young people to identify and deal with their own mental health problems or problems their peers may be experiencing and enable them to access the required support effectively, therefore improving prognosis of psychiatric and psychological disorders in children.
• Improve mental health literacy and therefore reducing barriers to accessing support for young people who have a caring role for an affected family member.