Mental Health

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If you’d asked us 18 months ago what 2025 had in store, we’re not sure we’d have guessed quite this ride. It’s been one of the toughest years financially in Make (Good) Trouble’s history – funding commissions have been harder to come by, budgets have been squeezed, and like so many small organisations in our sector, we’ve had to make difficult decisions along the way.

And yet. It’s also been one of the most rewarding. We recently put together our C.I.C (Community Interest Company) annual report and I thought it merited a blog post as it got me thinking about what we do…

Why this work matters more than ever

Today’s young people are growing up under pressures that would have felt unimaginable a generation ago. A major independent review into youth mental health, ADHD and autism, that’s due to be published soon, is to push back on the idea that this is a “snowflake generation,” with its lead author, Professor Peter Fonagy, telling the BBC there has been a real rise in mental distress among children and young people – anxiety, depression, self-harm and eating disorders chief among them. NHS figures back this up starkly: the number of children and young people in contact with mental health services in England has risen by 50% in the past five years, and one in three of those referred are still waiting for help a year later. (This probably isn’t news to parents reading this.)

Fonagy pointed to economic and employment uncertainty, social media pressures, and – tellingly – cuts to youth services over the past decade, which have left young people with fewer places to simply mix, belong and participate. As he put it, “participating in things… maintains good mental health.” SEND provision is under real strain amid ongoing reform, too, and many young people are struggling simply to find a foothold in the world of work, with employers increasingly reporting gaps in confidence, communication and interview readiness among school and college leavers.

(It’s well worth reading the government’s Young people and work: interim report on this issue.) 

It’s against this backdrop that our work feels so important. We don’t just talk about building young people’s confidence and skills – we do it, one workshop, one interview, one podcast, one film at a time. Every session is, in its own small way, exactly the kind of participation Fonagy describes: a place to belong, contribute and be heard.

How we support young people’s confidence and mental health

In 2025, we helped train future NHS therapists by working with young people, at The Horsfall with the charity 42nd Street in Manchester, to turn their own lived experience – navigating services, being labelled “high risk,” growing up in the system – into training films that will shape how the next generation of therapists talk to and support young people.

We ran our Holiday Drama Club in Friston Forest for the fifth year running, with the brilliant drama therapist Rozzy from Dragon Drama, giving teenagers a safe, supported space to build confidence outdoors. As one parent told us, their son had come a long way since first joining aged nine while struggling with ADHD/ASD, past trauma and medical issues, and the club had become “one of his safe places” – somewhere “they understand me.”

Young people in their boat built from sticks at the Make (Good) Trouble and Dragon Drama Holiday Club in Friston Forest, East Sussex

Young people taking part in Make (Good) Trouble’s Holiday Drama Club in Friston Forest, East Sussex, in partnership with Dragon Drama

We took Barking & Dagenham and Islington’s Youth Ambassadors through media training with The Ben Kinsella Trust, put Wakehurst work experience students behind a microphone for the third summer running, and helped young people across East Sussex tell their own stories about loss, bullying and social media pressures through a series of school mental health films.

Make (Good) Trouble's workshop wall at Ben Kinsella Trust with post-its showing participant's goals for media training workshop including 'clarity', 'stage fright' and 'speaking under pressure'.

Workshop at The Ben Kinsella Trust where the charity’s ambassadors write their personal goals for the Make (Good) Trouble Media Training session.

Why we love this work

Working with young people is a joy. Their creativity is infectious, their energy keeps us on our toes, and what they bring to our projects through co-creation is genuinely inspiring. When we hand young people the microphone – literally and figuratively – and let them shape the questions, the themes, the stories, we get work that adult-led projects simply couldn’t produce.

We think more organisations should be doing this. Not consulting young people as an afterthought but building them into projects from day one as producers, interviewers and storytellers in their own right. It’s harder work. It’s also so much better. (Want to work with us to do this? Get in touch!)

Young work experience students at Wakehurst recording sound effects for a podcast about their time at the botanic garden.

Onwards

To every parent, commissioner, school, charity and partner who’s worked with us over the years – thank you. It hasn’t always been easy, but seeing a nervous 14-year-old walk out of a workshop standing taller, speaking louder, and believing in themselves a bit more? That’s why we do this. Here’s to more good trouble in the future.

About Make (Good) Trouble

Make (Good) Trouble is a Community Interest Company (CIC) working alongside young people to challenge the status quo and spark real change. Through creative workshops, media training and co-produced content – from podcasts to policy – we help young people build confidence, develop communication skills and tell their own stories, shaping the systems that affect them and leading the change they want to see. We work with schools, youth clubs, local authorities, the NHS and charities across Sussex and beyond, supporting young people through some of the toughest challenges they face. Find out more at makegoodtrouble.co.uk.

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Parenting teenagers can feel like you’re constantly firefighting – school anxiety, exam stress, messy bedrooms, emotional blow-ups – we want to say this clearly:

You’re not failing. This stage really is tough.

At Make (Good) Trouble, one thing we hear again and again from parents is:
“I don’t know what’s normal anymore, and I don’t know if I’m handling this right.”

You’re not alone in that feeling.

In this Q&A, Daisy Cresswell spoke with psychotherapist Donna Peters-Lamb about young people’s mental health, parenting teenagers – and what genuinely helps families day to day. Here are the most useful takeaways

When school feels like too much

For many families, anxiety shows up as the Monday morning battle – tears, shutdown, refusal, or a child who simply can’t get out of the door.

One reassuring truth: anxiety rarely comes out of nowhere. It builds quietly over time and is often a response to feeling overwhelmed or unsafe.

What helps (without making it worse)

Get curious, not alarmed
Instead of focusing only on “school is the problem”, try gently exploring:

  • When did this start?
  • What feels hardest?
  • When does school feel even a little bit easier?

Sometimes the clue to moving forward is hidden in the detail.

Bring school in early
You don’t need to wait for things to fall apart. A discreet conversation with a tutor or Head of Year can help you understand what’s really going on – friendships, learning pressure, or moments where your child is coping better than you realise.

Prepare before pressure hits
Anxious brains hate uncertainty. Simple preparation can make a big difference:

  • Pack school bags on Friday
  • Check homework earlier in the weekend
  • Talk through the week ahead

Less last-minute stress = calmer mornings.

Tools that actually calm anxiety

Anxiety lives in the body, not just in thoughts. These tools help switch off the stress response – and teenagers (and parents) can use them anywhere.

Breathing (simple and invisible)

  • 3–4–5 breathing: in for 3, hold for 4, out for 5
  • Or any breathing where the out-breath is longer than the in-breath

This tells the nervous system it’s safe to calm down.

Grounding

Encourage your teen to:

  • Feel their feet flat on the floor
  • Notice colours, sounds, or objects around them
  • Focus attention outward instead of inward

These techniques are subtle, practical, and effective anywhere – in classrooms, 

“They don’t listen to me”: Mess, conflict and power struggles

If you’re endlessly asking for dirty washing, mugs and plates from their room – and getting nowhere – you’re not alone.

A helpful reframe: this is rarely about disrespect. Teenagers genuinely don’t notice mess in the way adults do.

What helps families move forward

Say it once – properly
Instead of repeatedly asking the same question over and over again, have one calm conversation about:

  • What matters to you
  • What you expect
  • What will happen if it doesn’t change

Start small
Ask for one thing at a time:

  • This week: dirty clothes in the basket
  • Next step: cups and bowls returned

Small steps are more achievable – and more likely to stick.

Consequences, not punishments
Be clear and upfront:

“If this doesn’t happen, this is what will follow. I don’t want that – but it’s your choice.”

This removes power struggles and reduces emotional blow-ups.

Exam stress and the harsh inner critic

Even when exams are over, many young people stay stuck in worry – replaying papers and assuming the worst.

Psychotherapist Donna Peters-Lamb shared a powerful idea from psychologist Martin Seligman, known as the Three Ps.

When stressed, young people often make worries:

  • Personal: “This proves I’m a failure”
  • Pervasive: “I mess everything up”
  • Permanent: “I’ll always be like this”

📚 Read this: Learned Optimism: How to change your mind and your life by Martin Seligman

How parents can help

Rather than jumping in with “You’ll be fine”, try gently challenging certainty:

  • “You don’t actually know that yet.”
  • “That’s a thought, not a fact.”
  • “Even if this didn’t go how you hoped, there are other paths.”

This isn’t fake positivity. It’s helping young people build flexible thinking – a key life skill.

A few things to remember about parenting teenagers

  • Teen brains are still under construction
  • Behaviour is often communication
  • Anxiety needs calming, not fixing
  • Routines, sleep and connection matter more than lectures
  • Your stress level affects your child more than you realise

And most importantly:

Be kind to yourself.
Parenting teenagers is one of the hardest, most emotionally demanding jobs there is – and you don’t have to do it perfectly to do it well.

At Make Good Trouble, we exist to support parents and carers too. You don’t have to hold all of this on your own.

Want support that feels human?

If this resonates, you might find it helpful to:

  • Sign up for our Raising Teens workshop pilot
  • Follow us for practical tools and honest conversations
  • Share this post with another parent who might need it

💛 You’re not alone. And you’re doing better than you think.

Huge thanks to Donna for her time and invaluable advice. You can find out more about her work at Make Sense Psychotherapy. This programme was supported by the Sussex Care Partnership, Brighton & Hove City Council.

Watch the whole conversation here:

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The mental health crisis in young people is escalating, and in this episode of Raising Teens we look at what mental health support is available in schools. Long-term, children and young people who struggle with their mental health are more likely to have poorer physical health and economic outcomes than their peers.

We hear from young people about their experiences of mental health support in school:

  • “For me, going to see a counsellor, it felt really welcoming and it didn’t feel like I was aiming to completely fix my emotions. It felt like I was understanding them better, which I hadn’t realised I needed to do… I feel like I just understand emotions a bit more. I understand how I work, how I think, which I think is really helpful to anything else that I might experience in the future.”
  • “I had two teachers that I was really close with and I’m still close with now. I felt comfortable with them, but they weren’t the pastoral team. They weren’t people that were trained in a way to help me cope with my mental health issues. Comfortability-wise, the pastoral team weren’t people who I could really see myself going up to and asking for help.”

We discuss how schools can help to improve the outlook for our young people, what help children are entitled to and whether schools are equipped to provide that support and help prevent the need for clinical treatment. It’s not known how many children are educated at home, but in  a report this week from Schools Week, it’s estimated that there has been a rise of 60% since the pandemic. What support can home-schooled young people expect?

🎧 Listen to Raising Teens: Support in Schools on BBC Sounds.

Our expert guests for episode 6 are:

If you’re wondering how parents can support their teens, and how we can make sure that support is accessible to every young person that needs it, tune in to BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey, and BBC Sounds on Fridays at 7pm or catch up any time on BBC Sounds. 

👉 Find out more about Raising Teens and listen to past episodes: Raising Teens.

👏 Raising Teens series 5 is supported by NHS Sussex.

Help and support:

If you/your child needs help, their first port of call should be your school’s pastoral team. Outside of school, the following services might be helpful.

e-wellbeing, Parent and young people Mental Health Support

YMCA Dialogue Counselling Services, accredited by The British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy.

AudioActive, non-profit organisation based in Brighton and across Sussex offering free drop-in sessions and workshops for young people based around music.
AudioActive also offer: 

  • Shift programme in schools
  • Room to Rant – “a space for young men to rap and get stuff off their chest”,
  • Vocalise – “a weekly drop in where all young women and gender variant individuals can put life experiences into music in a safe space”.

YMCA DownsLink Group offering mental health services and counselling for children, young people and families in Sussex.

Brighton & Hove Wellbeing Service, a free NHS service for anyone aged 4 years old and upwards with a postcode beginning BN1, BN2, BN3 or BN41. You can make a self-referral using this link. 

Not Fine In School, an organisation run by parents, “who have experienced school attendance barriers”. Their website has a ton of useful resources and information. They also host closed Facebook groups for families, professionals and school teachers.

Place 2 Be works with schools to support children’s and young people’s mental health. They have useful information for parents.

Young Minds offers help with:
Problems at School

The Student Room, community forum for advice and support for school, college and university students.

Kooth, a mental wellbeing community for young people to find online support and counselling

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It’s estimated that 15-20% of children and young people in the UK are neurodivergent (National Statistics, 2023). That means they have differences in how their brain functions to what is considered ‘typical’. Neurodivergent conditions include ADHD and Autism. This episode of Raising Teens looks at the experiences of neurodivergent young people and how families can support their children so they can develop and thrive. We also look at what role getting a diagnosis plays in that. 

Whilst neurodiversity isn’t a mental health condition, many children and young people experience challenges with their mental health. They face social pressures to behave ‘appropriately’ – or like their neurotypical peers – at school, in friendship groups, and communities. Coping strategies can take a huge toll on their emotional wellbeing. 

🎧 Listen to Raising Teens: Neurodiversity BBC Sounds.

Our expert guests for episode 5 are:

  • Hamish Gale – Senior Manager of Specialist Teaching Services ESCC
  • Dr Tracey Atkins – Specialist Educational Psychologist for East Sussex County Council.
  • Sav Kanagasundaram – NDP Family Training & Navigation Service Manager at Amaze Sussex.

If you’re wondering how parents can support their teens, and how we can make sure that support is accessible to every young person that needs it, tune in to BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey, and BBC Sounds on Fridays at 7pm or catch up any time on BBC Sounds.

👉 Find out more about Raising Teens and listen to past episodes: Raising Teens.

👏 Raising Teens series 5 is supported by NHS Sussex.

Help and support:

Young Minds – information about autism and mental health, and ADHD and mental health – including advice on looking after your mental health, supporting a friend and stories from other young people with autism and Attention Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Amaze Sussex – SEN and disability support and services in Sussex. Amaze works with families that include a child or young person with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) across Sussex. They work with parent carers and with children and young people with SEND.

Ambitious About Autism – an online platform for autistic young people aged 16-25 with plenty of great information and support – including advice on support in school, work experience opportunities, education, training and personal stories.

National Autistic Society – the UK’s leading charity for people on the autism spectrum and their families. Includes an online forum where you can discuss your issues and queries. 

The Autism Education Trust has some great Resources for young people.

ADHD Foundation: Worth a look at their tips to help your teen with ADHD

NHS information about treatment for Attention Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

The Sunflower scheme supports people living with non-visible disabilities in their communities. The sunflower is an international symbol of hidden disability which you can use, for example, when travelling. If an official sees someone wearing the sunflower lanyard, they will know that they might need to differentiate their approach or communications with someone.