Youth Mental Health Day 2025

Youth Mental Health Day (YMHD) encourages understanding, discussion and awareness of mental health in young people and highlights the importance of interventions in teenage mental health issues. This year's theme is #Share Support, encouraging young people to connect with their peers and share mental health resources. It highlights how young people need opportunities to be engaged in discussions about how to improve their mental health.

As we know, being a teenager can be really tough. Many will experience problems with their mental health - in fact, four in ten young people report that they experience difficulties such as anxiety and low mood.  

And being a blind or partially sighted teenager can be even harder. Research by RSBC found that those affected by vision impairments were more than twice as likely to have experienced difficulties with unhappiness or depression than the UK average.

One of the main challenges faced by this group of young people is social isolation. They may find it really difficult to meet up with friends and take part in many of the social activities and hobbies that their sighted peers can easily access. They then feel lonely and isolated, with over half reporting that they feel left out all or most of the time. A study* carried out this year also found that children and young people had more peer relationship issues.

Our Family Practitioners at RSBC work directly with many young people who are struggling with their visual impairment, as well as experiencing mental health issues. By offering young people one-to-one support, we can work with them on issues they're facing, such as low self esteem, lack of confidence and lack of resilience. We give them a safe space to talk about their feelings in a confidential and non-judgmental environment. We work to help them identify coping strategies for the ongoing challenges that they face, as well as giving them the tools they need to put these strategies into practice.

Loneliness and feelings of social isolation within their existing peer groups are also common, and so encouraging them to connect with other young people with a vision impairment can also play a part in building on their self confidence.

It's so important that vision impaired young people are given opportunities to meet with others in safe and structured environments. RSBC runs a programme of activities, events and clubs that give them the opportunity to do this. Taking part in these activities can not only help them develop new skills, but it also gives them the opportunity to develop friendships with other young people who understand the challenges that they face. Giving teenagers the opportunity to share support, talk about their own strategies for coping and provide their recommendations of what has worked for them isn't just empowering - it provides their peers with relatable tools which might help them navigate their own difficulties and challenges that come with living with a vision impairment. 

*Du K, Patil P, Boland MV. Mental Health of US children with vision impairment: an analysis of the Nationsal Heath Interview Survey. Amer J Ophthalmol. June 2025.