Young, British and Depressed: Boris, let's take action now

The channel 4 programme 'Young, British and Depressed' made troubling viewing and confirmed what I have long since thought.

Our mental health system is broken!

The promise of investment has not materialised and referrals to CAMHS are 45% up in the last 2 years. There is now a 5-6 month waiting list if you are lucky; a 1 to 2 year wait if you are not.Our children are being encouraged to reach out for help. But help is not there. 

Even more troubling, to my mind, is the trend towards medicalising the normal range of human emotion rather than encouraging resilience. The result is that too many young people regard themselves as broken in some way. When they feel bad, they ask 'what's wrong with me?' rather than 'what has been happening in my life that has been causing distress and how can I manage that?'

When they visit the GP, pills are often prescribed as a way of making uncomfortable feelings go away, reinforcing the 'illness' narrative when it's actually someone to talk to they need and someone who can offer to teach them the kind of mind management skills that will arm them safely for life.

The frustration is that in schools, there is less and less funding available for pastoral care as the CAMHS waiting list continues to grow. It’s clearly time for something that helps…. and helps quickly!

What problem?

Many Fusion coaches are now working in schools.

In a recent supervision session, one Fusion coach outlined how she was taking referrals from schools where young people were on the waiting list for CAMHS. After working with her, most of her young clients did not need to see CAMHS at all. 'Problem?', what mental health problem;' said one.

It's not as though the Fusion Model is untested, a few years ago, I worked in partnership to test bed it under the pilot ‘Mindful Me’ offering group training and one to one support for year 9 students. The results were excellent. Birmingham and Dudley were chosen to be the areas due to the large number of deprivation. Birmingham in particular is an area in need as it is ranked the third most deprived core city and the most deprived city nationally on both income and employment deprivation, largely influenced by the size of the authority compared to other major cities.

1. The schools were:Aston Manor Academy
2. Bristnall Hall Academy
3. Bishop Milner Catholic College

All year 9 pupils were invited to take part in 2 one-hour interactive workshops; an Introduction to Mindfulness followed by a Fusion Mind Management Group Session. Fusion Therapeutic Life Coaching one to ones were also delivered to pupils in the schools with additional emotional health needs.

The project started with all three schools completing a 15-20-minute baseline survey to assess their emotional wellbeing and levels of distress. Developed using Warwick Edinburgh and ONS standards, the questions cover a range of topics including levels of happiness, anxiety, self-harm, resilience and personal relationships.

Pupils learnt useful tools and techniques to help them reduce stress and anxiety, and create happiness using the latest findings in neuroscience known as ‘hard wiring for happiness.’

The Fusion Mind Management Group Session taught pupils how to manage difficult emotions such as anxiety, sadness, and anger by educating them on the rational and emotional sides of the brain. 

Group Sessions Results

50% increase in mood following the Introduction to Mindfulness Group Session, from 6 to 9. *

33% increase in confidence to manage mood following the Fusion® Group Session, from 6 to 8. *

85% of pupils said they will use the STOP system™.

24% said they will use the STOP system™ every day.

96% of pupils found the Fusion Group Session helpful.*On a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 is very low and 10 is very high.

Schools are in need

Not surprisingly, schools are finding it difficult to cope with the increasing levels of emotional distress, depression and anxiety in the classroom. Yet the school budget is getting more and more stretched. Who will pay for the help they need?

• Fusion is offering effective help. A Fusion Therapeutic Coach can help with:Depression
• Anxiety
• Panic attacks
• Anger issues
• Exam stress
• Motivation 

OK or not OK?

A lot of people think if you’ve got problems you need a counsellor and if you’re a high flyer you’ll get a coach. However, we all find ourselves at varying positions on the ‘continuum of well-being’ depending on our current circumstances. Sometimes we are in the ‘OK’ zone and sometimes we slip into the ‘not OK’ zone. It's part of being human and dealing with the inevitable ups and downs of life.

Fusion offers emotional well-being and resilience coaching to help children succeed at school. It teaches them the mind management skills to help them deal with emotional issues too.

Isn't it about time we stopped talking about the problem and started talking about the solution that's right under our noses? Boris, let's take action now...

Therapeutic Coaching Professionals

If you are a coach who counsels, a counsellor who coaches, a teacher, doctor, nurse, mentor, priest or hypnotherapist; if you work or any of the helping professions or are interested in studying in a helping profession, you can be invited to join the 'Therapeutic Coaching Professionals' private Facebook forum, by clicking 'like' on the Fusion Therapeutic Coaching Face book page).

'Therapeutic Coaching Professionals' is a supportive professional group where we share tips, tools and the kind of interventions that really help our clients move forward quickly.

Fusion training 

Motivation, resolving depression, the Rewind Technique, Mindfulness Based Mind Management (advanced MBSR), worrying well, solution focus, guided visualisation, resolving addiction, epigenetics, mapping the connectome, polyvagal theory, the reticular activating system (RAS), secondary gain, trauma resolution, coaching for kids, treating depression, worrying well, working SMART, therapeutic stories, insight, psycho education, suicide prevention, affirmations, positive mental rehearsal, imagery, dissociation, goal setting, new paradigms, reframes, fast track learning, perception shifting, self actualisation, positive psychology, reframing, metaphor, personal empowerment, motivational thinking, resilience and resourcefulness, human flourishing, anchoring, rewiring your brain, the STOP System, the SAFE SPACE happiness recipe, holistic coaching and working on the continuum of wellbeing plus many other professional theories, tools and techniques underpin the content of the fast paced, fast track, Fusion training programmes.