Back in 2017, the Elephant in the Room group, set up by Belfast Youth Forum and the Northern Ireland Youth Forum, produced the research report, created by young people for young people.  A total of 1117 young people participated in the research.

Earlier this week, members of the Elephant in the Room (EITR) campaign group appeared before the Executive Working Group on Mental Wellbeing, Resilience and Suicide Prevention to discuss mental health reform.  The young people engaged confidently and passionately with a number of Ministers around the subject of mental health.

The EITR report called on the Executive to:

• Support the creation of a youth-led, government backed mental health campaign, challenging the culture of silence and negative stigma.
• Work with young people to develop a new and positive language around mental health by creating a ‘mental health dictionary’ which could be used as part of a mental health curriculum programme.
• Create a compulsory curriculum programme for all schools and colleges on mental health and wellbeing that helps to raise awareness and challenge stigma and allows young people to access consistent mental health information.
• Create a website for young people designed by young people to provide mental health information, support and raise awareness and challenge stigma.

For more information on Belfast youth Forum and its other campaigns, please follow the link below.

https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/belfastyouthforum

Download Elephant in the Room Young People’s Report Here