Our team chose to focus on this challenge as so many teenagers suffer with mental health issues. These issues arise from a number of problems such as stress with family, school and relationships. We thought that if we could come up with a way to help teenagers with mental health issues, we would be able to help teenagers everywhere.
We didn’t know that approximately 449 people died by suicide in 2021 – 359 males (80%) and 90 females (20%). The rate of suicide in men is over three times higher than in women. Suicide is the second biggest cause of death in young males (1-19 years old). For generations, societal roles have pressured men to “man up”. They’re encouraged to be tough, and any admittance that you’re not okay is one of weakness. While women are often wrongly characterised as “emotional”, men are not encouraged to speak up at all.
The problem is that our hero is stressed out and worried about schoolwork and exams. The solutions could be to find a hobby they enjoy or a comfort activity and make room for it everyday as a stress reliever. By doing an activity or having a hobby a person likes, this could clear their mind and make them feel better. If they choose to do a hobby that involves teamwork, being around people might be good for their mental health too, like if they have problems socialising or if they are shy.
We are just wondering what you thought about our idea and if you have any recommendations for what we could include moving forward.