The Impact of Stigma
It is important to be aware of the sensitivity around mental health and emotional well-being, and the massive stigma which is still attached to this for young people.
This stigma can stop young people feeling able to access services or asking for help in the first place.
Click here to reveal more information about stigma.
![I wish I knew before my GCSE years got wasted. I wish I knew before I got expelled, but I didn’t and my life would be better if I did. Teachers told me that all the angles in a triangle add up to 180, teachers told me where an apostrophe should go and they told me to spit my gum out but they never told me that it’s ok to be depressed. They never told me not to feel ashamed, ever, by an emotional issue and they never told me that mental health is something we all have [1].](../../../png/mcc_10_01_06_01_50.png)
It is important to be aware of the sensitivity around mental health and emotional well-being, and the massive stigma which is still attached to this for young people.
This stigma can stop young people feeling able to access services or asking for help in the first place.
For more information about tackling stigma see the Further Reading and Activities section which can be accessed by clicking on the Resources button at the bottom of the screen.
![Stigma still affects us, it’s about time we were able to talk about how we feel. We have been called ‘attention seeking’, ‘drama queens’, ‘mental’, and told to ‘shut up, it’s just hormonal’. We all need to talk about how we feel inside [2].](../../../png/mcc_10_01_06_02_50.png)