Platform 51

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Categories: Health & wellbeing, Mental health campaign, Regional news: Midlands
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Northampton girls discuss mental health

Girls discuss mental health and its impact

A conference for girls aged 14 to 16 was held in Northampton yesterday. Organised by women's charity Platform 51, it gathered nearly 70 girls together from all over the city to discuss how low-level mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, can blight a girl's life and affect every area of her life as she becomes a woman. Many of the girls attending had no idea how serious - and how common - such problems are.

Jade Simon, a young woman who goes to Platform 51's centre in Northampton, spoke to the delegates about the things that had plunged her into depression: bullying, body image and low self-esteem. With the help of Platform 51 she now feels much better about herself and has learned ways of coping when she feels down.

Ronnie, Natasha  and Annie, volunteers from Platform 51, ran a workshop for the girls about self-harm, a common way for teenage girls to express depression and the loss of control of their lives. The volunteers explained and advised the girls about this misunderstood problem.

Girls who attended the conference were able to discuss the things that make them feel down, isolated or lonely such as isolation, body image and the pressure to look and behave in a certain way.

Bob Fletcher , principal social worker at Northamptonshire County Council, also lead a workshop on drugs, music and the teenage girl revolution.

Platform 51 offers services and support to teenage girls and young women from their women's centre in Castilian Terrace Northampton.