The main cause we started with Inertia teens is because I come from an Indian background. In India, mental health is considered something that you shouldn’t talk about in public. It’s still considered to be taboo. And schools don’t focus on the mental well-being of kids.
With the global pandemic, I witnessed a need to address this issue by starting a mental health platform that is a safe place to share your feelings. Since we started from scratch. The first step was data collection. We surveyed schools for teenagers, which received more than 500 responses. And now since we know the root cause of the issue, the next step was inviting counselors and physiatrists to discuss this on our YouTube Channel.
1. What is the mission statement of @inertiateens?
Inertia teens is a mental health platform for teenagers to express their feelings through art, writing, and contribution to our literary magazine. Our aim is to destigmatize conversations around mental health, thus helping to overcome the taboo in our society
2. How do you plan on expanding your platform so that mental health awareness can be advocated more?
We are planning on releasing our issue 1 soon that contains rich emotions from teens all over the world.
The main cause we started with Inertia teens is because I come from an Indian background. In India, mental health is considered something that you shouldn’t talk about in public. It’s still considered to be taboo. And schools don’t focus on the mental well-being of kids. With these steps, we will reach out to more people to create awareness. Our Youtube channel is prepared to launch more content to create awareness.
3. What advice would you give to youth who want to create an organization similar to yours?
Go for it! It might seem tough at first but when you raising an issue which you are passionate about it will change your perspective of certain things and you will learn eventually. My biggest advice would be to don’t hesitate to first step as soon as inspiration strikes.
4. Why do you think mental health is so stigmatized in our world today?
According to our survey, the root cause was the stigma attached to sharing feelings or talking about mental health with families.
53.3% (234 kids) felt free with a family to share their feelings, 65.1% (266 kids) were free with friends, 29.2% (128) were free with siblings, and 11.4% (50) were free with others
There is a need for parents to accept the situation and create a healthy environment for their children for studies. Psychological it was found that teens and children adjust to their surroundings easily rather than elders. In COVID -19 times. the first step towards adjustment is adaptation. Further, we should try to continue the pre- COVID routine without the limitation of going out. This will help in long-term health benefits.
5. Please provide a brief overview of the survey done. Were the results shocking to you?
We had surveyed 500+ responses of students about how COVID 19 disrupted their lives. With COVID many places had to face complete lockdown. Students had to adapt to new virtual methods of learning. That was an unexpected twist in every student’s life.
The results of the survey were very shocking.
We collected some causes for the problem.
Now the root cause was pressure from family because of the stigma attached with sharing feelings or talking about mental health with families.
53.3% (234 kids) felt free with a family to share their feelings, 65.1% (266 kids) were free with friends, 29.2% (128) were free with siblings, and 11.4% (50) were free with others
The second issue is the distance from relationships.
In the offline world, people were able to make friends easily. according to our survey,
70% of the students miss in-person relationships.
The third cause is involved with social media caused them stress.
Psychologically the teens who have selected ‘maybe’ are not ready to acknowledge the bad side of social media and are pondering about its effects. Teens often get misguided by celebrities' culture. Social media portrays the best of everyone's life whereas everyone is facing difficulties in real life. Young teens get stressed by seeing the perfect body shapes of their idols. To achieve ideal life and perfectness is a struggle for teenagers. Teens try to fit in these societies' hoax standards. Well, the better side is that the exact amount of social media is fine for students as it provides a wonderful platform for expression, interaction, and connecting the world. If used in the right way it can change lives. So, there is a need that students limit their social media.
Around 39.6% were found to be bullied in school and 30.3% in online classes. Online bullying is a major problem too. To maintain good mental wellbeing it’s essential to address and solve this problem by school authorities. Most of the teens were unaware that they are being bullied online. In such cases, they should immediately inform the guardian and the teacher responsible. Bullying in-person school also should be addressed by the school authorities.
6. Should school provide mandatory health education?
Yes, it essential to introduce and educate students. Teachers and parents should encourage teens to open up and share honest feelings with them. They shouldn’t judge or get angry, instead try to find out more solutions to their problems. This will make them feel valid and understood.
Here are some tips to introduce mental health in school through fun ways:
Live your life to the fullest: find a purpose
Always dream big in life to accomplish your goals. Obstacles come, but your determination should not deter you from achieving them. COVID-19 times have brought restrictions though, but make use of the opportunity to stay at home and utilize the time which otherwise would not have been possible. Find a hobby that would give meaning to your life and live the life to accomplish small tasks which would give a sense of satisfaction and pleasure.
Acceptance
The COVID-19 times are tough times that have imposed many restrictions on us. We should accept the tough situation and make ourselves mentally strong to deal with, solve and overcome the problems associated with them.
Adaptation
As told by my Principal and teachers that COVID times has taught us to adapt ourselves to the situation. Adapting to online classes was the most difficult, but life and education must move on.
Healthy Routine
We should maintain a healthy routine by having a good diet and exercise regime even while staying indoors. This is the key to leading a good life.
Hobbies
Pursuing or learning a new hobby would keep us mentally active. Small achievements make us feel elated. They challenge our brains to be active.
Limit social media for better
Social media is good as long as positively approached. Limit the use and exposure to social media for good of mental well-being.
Future Vision
This project had brought us in contact with people from various backgrounds and professions who made me spread my wings to newer horizons. The Google form is still open on the website for schools for survey and analysis. Let us grow together to destigmatize mental health.