LOCK DOWN, LOCKED OUT

LOCKED DOWN, LOCKED OUT

MENTAL HEALTH DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

This has without doubt been one of the most challenging years in everyone’s lives, across the whole world. The Covid-19 pandemic has interrupted our education, social lives and in many cases our mental health. Why have mental health issues had such a significant impact among our age group? We will explore this as we look back at the impact of the pandemic.

Over the three Lockdowns, the charity Place2be said many of our age group suffered with mental health issues during the pandemic. Place2be conducted research and found out that

HOW WE LIVED DURING THE LOCKDOWNS:

• COULD ONLY GO OUT ONCE A

DAY • ONE FORM OF EXERCISE A DAY • NO MEETING FAMILY MEMBERS

OUTSIDE OF YOUR HOUSEHOLD • PUBS AND RESTAURANTS

CLOSED • ONLY MAJOR STORES LIKE

SUPERMARKETS OPEN • NO PUBLIC GATHERINGS • YOU COULD ONLY MEET WITH

YOUR FAMILY BUBBLE • WORK AT HOME (UNLESS YOU

CAN’T, OR YOU WERE A KEY

WORKER) • STUDENTS MUST WORK FROM

HOME (UNLESS THEIR PARENT

WAS A KEY WORKER) • MUST WEAR FACEMASKS IN

SHOPS • ONLY LEAVE YOUR HOME IF IT

WAS VITAL

most teenagers suffered with loneliness (55%), worries about school work (48%) and family issues (42%). This could have a significant impact on our generation and potentially could make us the worst affected group of people after the pandemic has ended.

Here at Tag ‘21, we conducted our own research to see how you coped during the pandemic. We found out that over half of you said your Lockdown was good while others said you didn’t cope well with the restrictions. We also asked what helped you. The results came back overwhelmingly positive about listening to music, but you were split when we asked you about exercise as the results came back 50-50.

We asked East Sussex Coast College students how they felt and how they coped with the restrictions. Emily Browne (18) told Tag ‘21, “During Lockdown my mental health wasn’t that great; at the beginning I was very anxious. The way I coped with Lockdown was finding things to do in the house so I [wouldn’t] get bored so my mental state [stayed] positive.” Brendon Cooper (17) told us, “My mental health has taken a huge dip over the past year as I have not been able to see any of my friends [or] do the dayto-day activities I enjoyed doing before the pandemic. It has been mentally challenging.”

ACTIVITIES YOU CAN DO FOR A GREAT MINDSET

Tag ‘21 are going to talk through some ideas we have to stay motivated and remain positive during these difficult times. The first thing we suggest is starting a new hobby, by doing so will help with motivation and keeping yourself busy. This could include learning a new instrument such as a keyboard or guitar, or learning new editing skills on a computer to make fun videos on Adobe Premiere Pro. Another idea is some physical activities, such as going out for a run or other forms of exercise. Exercise is not only good for your physical health, but benefits your mental health as well. Many of us at Tag ‘21 listen to music to keep ourselves motivated when exercising or doing work. Reading is another idea, it will improve your writing and vocabulary, as well as keeping your brain busy. By reading books you can use your imagination and build an emotional connection to the characters and story. A number of book series that we suggest are: Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and The Lord Of The Rings.

Overall, it seems that the pandemic has not helped our generation, 14 and 15 year-olds have not seen their friends so they can’t meet up and engage in indoor or outdoor activities. While 18 and 19 year olds can’t visit the pub and clubs with their friends to socialise. If you are feeling down and need someone to talk to about your mental health, try speaking to a trusted familly member or friend. We have provided links to charities below where you can talk about your struggles with your mental health.

Names have been changed.

Jacob Cullip Design: Curtis Kenwright Photography: Oscar Tarbox

GET HELP HERE

www.samaritans.org www.mind.org.uk