My Health, Our Future (Phase five)

My Health, Our Future (MHoF) is a research programme exploring the mental health and emotional wellbeing of children and young people in Suffolk. Healthwatch Suffolk have received a total of 38,738 responses since 2017. This report presents the findings from phase five of the MHoF survey, completed by young people between May and June 2021.

The report outlines how young people’s wellbeing has been detrimentally impacted since 2019. It explores young people's mental health and wellbeing across a range of measures, including low wellbeing, low self-esteem, low resilience, current self-harm, and online bullying.

Key findings

• Those who identified their gender in another way to man or woman reported the lowest wellbeing scores, were most likely to report low self-esteem, were the least resilient group, and were more vulnerable to self-harm and online bullying
• Female students were more likely than their male counterparts to report low self-esteem and low resilience
• The proportion of young people who were ‘emotionally unwell’ or ‘struggling’ increased during the first 2020 lockdown
• Female students and those who described their gender another way are more likely to seek support for poor mental health than male students
• LGBTQ+ students were least likely to have sought support if they experienced mental health difficulties compared to their peers
• Young people receiving free school meals were the most likely group to report experiencing a mental health difficulty but not seek support
• LGBTQ+ students were at higher risk for social isolation than their peers
• Students from an ethnic minority background were more likely to experience barriers to technology or internet to support working from home

No recommendations were made in the report.