What young people want from mental health services - A youth informed approach for the digital age

We cannot address the crisis in youth mental health unless we start to ask young people themselves about the unique challenges they are facing in this fast changing digital world - and find out from them what it is they want from mental health services.

There is a crisis in youth mental health with soaring rates of anxiety and depression – and suicide amongst young people. Parents and professionals often feel out of their depth in understanding the unique challenges facing this digital generation and struggle to know how to reach young people in distress. This situation has only been exacerbated by the COVID19 pandemic. If we want to reduce the distress and suffering facing our youth, their families and communities, we need to understand the world through their eyes and find ways to support them that fit with their own priorities and concerns.

Based on interviews with nearly 400 young people, this book offers a vision of youth mental health issues and services through the eyes of young people themselves. It offers important insights into the meaning of identity and agency for this generation and explores how these issues play out in young people’s expectations of mental health support. It shows how, despite young people’s immersion in digital technology, genuine and trusting relationships remain a key ingredient in their priorities for support. It considers what access to mental health support means for a generation who have grown up with the immediacy enabled by digital technology. Young people’s accounts also provide crucial insights into how they are using digital resources to manage their own mental health – in ways often not appreciated by professionals who design internet interventions.

About the Author

Kerry Gibson is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland. She is a clinical psychologist with extensive experience working with young people. Her research, conducted through The Mirror Project, seeks to ensure young people’s views are represented in the design of mental health services.

What people are saying...
“Kerry Gibson has been a pioneer in putting the voices and experience of young people at the heart of mental health research. In this timely book, she goes further, by inviting us to re-imagine youth mental health - and how we can support young people - for the digital age. She does so brilliantly, with far-reaching implications for both research and practice.”
Nick Midgely, Professor of Psychological Therapies for Children and Young People in the Research Department of Clinical, Educational, and Health Psychology at University College London, UK.

What people are saying...

“The voices of young people are the essence of this timely book on young people’s views on mental health support. Through analysis of rich qualitative data embedded within critical analysis of their current context, Kerry Gibson reveals the unique mental health needs and priorities of today’s digital generation. This is an essential read for practitioners and scholars in the youth mental health field to be responsive to young people’s own narratives.”

Debra Rickwood, Professor of Psychology at the University of Canberra, and Chief Scientific Advisor to headspace: National Youth Mental Health Foundation, Australia.

“This book provides a timely and refreshing reminder of the importance of the voice of young people in determining the best way to help them. Young people’s opinions are given the limelight, with some important insights – perhaps the internet is not such a dangerous space – perhaps cyberbullying is not ubiquitous! As is usually the case, the young people’s ideas are sensible, thoughtful, and somewhat different from those in older generations. In this thoroughly engaging and readable book,

Dr Gibson gives voice to young people, with a detailed account of their views and with helpful advice on how we might better address the challenges they face in the future. This is a book with wide appeal, for parents, health professionals and young people themselves.”

Sally Merry, Cure Kids Chair of Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the University of Auckland

“Young people around the world are facing unique challenges which are not only undermining their mental health and resulting in a rising tide of mental ill-health. Kerry Gibson communicates her own deep wisdom and empathy on this crucial subject and combines this with the fruits of her inspiring “Mirror Project” which assembled the perspectives and wisdom of around 400 young people. It is not just a mirror but a window into the present day experiences of young people. There is tremendous diversity side by side with the universal threats and gifts that young people must embrace across the globe and in all cultures. This is a book that opened my eyes and my heart wider and distils so much of what I have seen and continue to absorb.”

Patrick McGorry, Professor of Youth Mental Health at the University of Melbourne and Executive Director of Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health

“A lot of the times when I would try to tell my parents or tell my friends what was happening, they are very quick to say, ‘This is what you should do’. I didn’t have anyone that would just step back and just actually listen.”

Young person interviewed for the book