Women’s Health UK partners with YoungMinds

Women’s Health UK has partnered with the youth mental health charity, YoungMinds, to launch ‘The State of Modern Girlhood’, an ongoing initiative that aims to spotlight the crisis in young women and girls’ mental health.

The publisher says the partnership follows new research undertaken by Women’s Health UK and YoungMinds among 1,700+ adults; anxiety was the most common issue highlighted, with 43% of (pre)teen girls’ family members polled noting that it significantly interrupted their loved one’s functioning. Nearly a third of family members (31%) also told us that a girl in their lives had self-harmed, with one in five respondents having concerns about the safety of their loved one.

With one in five children now identified as having a probable mental health issue, according to the Office for National Statistics – up from one in eight pre-pandemic – the youth mental health crisis is now affecting the mental health of parents, too; 60% of parents told Women’s Health UK that the mental health of the (pre)teen girl in their life was affecting their own, added the publisher.

Through a range of multiplatform channels, The State of Modern Girlhood aims to increase awareness and draw attention to the pressures girls of today are under – from misogyny and life online, to how economic and societal issues bear down on them. The initiative will shine a light on girls, the women who love them, and the experts and changemakers demanding better.

Claire Sanderson, editor-in-chief of Women’s Health UK, said: “We’re proud to team up with YoungMinds who’ve done an incredible job in supporting young girls and their mental health for many years. Girlhood is not just in a flux, but in crisis, with a wide range of contributing factors, including the influence of misogyny, social media and huge waiting lists for mental health support. But there is hope – our data shows almost half of girls are open to conversations about mental health, and we want this partnership to build on that and help make positive changes.”

Women’s Health UK says it will also support YoungMinds in its campaigning to Government, which includes the ask for a mental health team in every school, support hubs in every community, and adequate funding for mental health services and a reduction in waiting times.

Laura Bunt, chief executive of YoungMindssaid: “We are honoured to be working with Women’s Health UK to raise awareness of the pressures impacting young women’s mental health. This partnership could not be more timely or important – young people’s mental health has been in rapid decline over the last few years, and we know that young women are more likely to struggle. They are facing multiple pressures from intense academic pressure to growing concerns about their future, and they are more likely to come into contact withharmful content online. The world also continues to be a hostile place for young women, with misogyny in popular culture on the rise and daily media reports about violence against women the norm.

“As a society we must get better at tackling the issues that make young women’s mental health worse. Working with Women’s Health UK, we hope to highlight these issues and call for changes that will make a real difference to young women’s lives.”

YoungMinds is a UK charity fighting for a world where no young person feels alone with their mental health. It provides young people with the tools to look after their mental health and empowers adults to be the best support they can be to the young people in their lives.

More details of The State of Modern Girlhood initiative can be read on the Women’s Health UK website now or in the November issue of the magazine, on sale from 22 October.