Schools and Colleges Close Today: UK’s young people set to suffer MOST from social separation amidst nationwide shutdown

As schools prepare to close their gates indefinitely due to #Coronavirus, how will the #MentalHealth and wellbeing of students fare? 

Gerard Barnes, CEO of Smart TMS – specialists in treating depression in teenagers – examines the effect of school closures and exam disruption on the mental health of the UK’s students and discusses the importance of social interaction and communication for young people and provides tips for parents looking to help their children cope with social distancing:

Thousands of students across the UK are sitting in their classrooms for what may be the final time of this academic year, as the majority of schools and colleges in Britain will be closed from today (20 Mar), except for pupils with special educational needs and the children of essential workers. 

The decision to close schools is one amidst a raft of wider measures implemented in the UK in an effort to contain the further spread of the novel Coronavirus, but there are grave concerns that the resulting lack of social exposure for young people will likely have a severe impact on the mental wellbeing of thousands of children in Britain.

The implementation of strict social distancing means that children everywhere will be no longer be able to spend time with their friends and classmates on a regular basis. Young people are exceptionally social creatures and regular social interaction is absolutely vital for the development of their social skills and mental health, but a long-term policy of social distancing and potential lockdown will see their exposure to real-life social interactions drastically affected.

Ealier this week the Prime Minister announced that, in England and Wales, all exams in May and June have been cancelled, including GCSEs and A-levels as well as England’s primary school national curriculum tests.

The mass closure of schools and mass cancellation of exams leaves thousands of young people across the UK in limbo, with no concrete knowledge of when they will be able to return to school and no information on how they will be able to receive the qualifications vital for university and college places, or even further employment.

This news comes amidst rising rates of depression and severe anxiety amongst children and young adults across the UK; according to the Mental Health Foundation, more than 1 in 10 children aged 10-15 say they have no one to talk to about their mental health concerns, whilst the number of children and young people saying they have a mental health condition has grown six fold in England over two decades according to studies by UCL and the University of Exeter. Higher levels of loneliness increases the risk of developing depression by 12% and social anxiety by 10%.

Given the drastic impact of Coronavirus on the daily lives of young people, it is highly likely that these circumstances will have considerable consequences for the mental wellbeing of many teenagers and children across the UK.

In an effort to help maintain the mental wellbeing of young people during this period, the following tips can help help young people maintain their social interactions and feel less lonely during this period of isolation.

Top seven tips for teenagers and young people to maintain their mental wellbeing during this period of uncertainty:

1. Use social media in a healthy way

Social media often receives a lot of criticism in today’s society and is regularly cited as being one of the causes of mental health problems in young people. However, in times such as these, using social media in a healthy way could actually be incredibly beneficial for children and young adults, by allowing young people to maintain good communication with their friends and classmates and share their concerns.

Encouraging your kids to get involved in group chats with close friends and use video calling services such as FaceTime, Facebook Messenger video chat or Skype can help them to remain close with their peers and engage in regular, healthy social interaction. You could also introduce them to other apps, such as HouseParty, which enable larger groups of people to enjoy group video chats with added functions – this will help your children to interact with more of their peers at one time, rather than limiting their communication to one-on-one conversations. 

2. Spend time with your family

As the majority of children will now be spending a lot more time at home for the foreseeable future, now is the best time to dust off those board games or break out the pack of playing cards. While nothing can truly replace real-life social interaction with peers, playing games with your kids is a fantastic way to maintain their social development and will help them to improve useful social skills such as negotiation, explanation and strategizing. 

3. Help out at home and find projects to complete

As they spend more time away from school, many kids will become frustrated at their lack of progress and will become lazy and demotivated due to the lack of structure. Enlisting your kids’ help with household tasks and giving them projects to complete, such as cooking, painting, basic DIY (supervised of course!) will provide them with vital structure and goals to achieve. This will also translate over into keeping them productive and helping them stay on track with their academic work.

4. Get some space

While it may be very counterintuitive, sometimes kids need to spend time alone to develop vital tools and coping mechanisms which will allow them to cope with solitary moments and difficult periods in the future. While long term loneliness is detrimental, giving your children some space and resisting the urge to constantly check in and be present during this time may in fact help them to come to terms with the situation and build resilience. Ensuring you are available to answer any questions or discuss any concerns they have, while not forcing them to talk about the situation, will go a long way to helping them negotiate this tricky period.

5. Speak to someone you trust

Keeping your concerns and worries bottled up inside or trying to ignore your feelings could actually cause more harm than good. Speaking to someone you trust, such as a family member, teacher or trusted friend can give you an outlet to share your anxieties and concerns, and receive support from a friendly face. If you are practicing self-isolation, reach out to your trusted contacts through social media or the phone.

6. Support others who are struggling if you can

If you know that someone close to you is also finding things difficult, especially your fellow students, reach out to them and see if you can support each other. Maintaining close communication gives both of you a way to share your concerns and face them together, and helping someone else can make you feel better too. 

7. Ask for help

Asking for help in difficult times is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of strength. If you find that you are feeling sad and low on a regular basis, or are experiencing high levels of anxiety, help is available to provide you with the support you need. You can speak to a member of school staff or ask a parent/carer to book a GP appointment for you, or if you don’t feel comfortable speaking to somebody directly, you can call the Samaritans on 116 123 or Childline on 0800 1111. 

The impact of these announcements on young people across the UK

It has been made extremely clear to us at Smart TMS that the young people of Britain are contending with widespread mental health problems. A shocking proportion of the UK’s youth are exhibiting and reporting clear signs of depression and anxiety, characterised by low self-esteem, social anxiety, and difficulty or lack of desire to carry out everyday tasks.

Young people in the UK are already dealing with high levels of stress from various sources; the ever increasing pressure to succeed at school, the difficulties negotiating social situations and the impact of social media to name just a few. Now however, they are facing a completely different reality amidst the school closures and exam cancellations, one which is extremely uncertain and has the potential to complicate or even impede their chances of academic success.

The impact of isolation on young people and their mental health and wellbeing

Spending long periods of time away from their peer group could likely have some considerable consequences for the development of young people’s social skills and their general mental wellbeing, as loneliness and isolation is one of the key drivers behind the development of depression and social anxiety.

Young people in the UK are already dealing with high levels of stress from various sources, but now they are facing a completely different reality amidst the school closures and exam cancellations, one which is extremely uncertain and has never been experienced by young people before. At Smart TMS, we strongly encourage parents everywhere to look into ways of helping your children cope with this period of social separation, and to also use this as a time to connect with your kids and spend more quality time with them.

We hope that the tips we provide serve as a good indicator of ways that you can support your children, but long-term separation from their peer group will be detrimental to their mental wellbeing and social development. Therefore, it is vital that the government provides more information on the school closures and exam cancellations as soon as possible, and more mental health provisions must be made available to young people to cope with the severe impact that COVID-19 has had on their way of life.

It is vital that the government provides more information on the school closures and exam cancellations as soon as possible, and they must develop a clear plan to help students get the qualifications that they need to secure their futures. Finally, it is also of paramount importance that more mental health provisions are made available to young people to cope with the severe impact that COVID-19 has had on their way of life.

Gerard Barnes, CEO of Smart TMS