Nature and mental health: Make Our Neighbourhood Nature Safer & Cleaner, say British Teenagers in Mental Health Awareness Week
New research for Mental Health Awareness Week has been carried out among 2,399 British teenagers aged 13-19. The survey was done online between the 9th and 29th of April 2021.
Teenagers want cleaner, safer and more local natural spaces, along with greener streets, to help them benefit more from nature, according to a new survey by the Mental Health Foundation.
The vast majority of British teenagers – 78% – now live in urban areas, the survey found, making the state of cities and towns a significant influence on their lives and mental health.
The Mental Health Foundation is joining calls made by MQ in the APPG Report is calling on the government to prioritise green spaces and planting in urban areas accordingly, to support people’s access to nature.
Around half the teenagers surveyed said that spending time close to nature makes them feel better. Of over 2,000 participants 52% said it “improves my mood”, while 49% said that being in nature gave them positive emotions including calm, joy, excitement and wonder.
The research was done to mark Mental Health Awareness Week, which this year has the theme of Nature and mental health. MQ's next Open Mind webinar will discuss this topic and Catherine Seymour, Head of Research at Mental Health Foundation, will join as a panellist.
When asked what would help them to benefit more from nature, teenagers chose improvements to their local environments.
Most popular was “better quality public natural spaces”, chosen by 32% of those surveyed, while 31% said “more trees and plants grown around my streets”.
Almost as important were “making my local open spaces/area feel safer”, which was chosen by 30% of all teenagers surveyed.
Young women (36%) and teenagers with long-term health conditions that limit them a lot (40%) were more likely than young men (25%) to say that safety improvements would help them benefit more from nature.
“more parks or natural spaces…near to me” was equally important, chosen by almost one-third of participants.
A further 12% of the teenagers said that “feeling able to spend time in nature without fear of discrimination” would help them to benefit more from nature.
“The increase in mental health issues among children and young people during the pandemic has been alarming. Less than six months prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, children and young people’s mental health services were starkly undervalued and underfunded. The help and services that are available for people in need vary wildly depending on where in the UK you live. Without action from the UK government we risk failing the ‘COVID generation’ who will face a new pandemic of mental illness.”
Lea Milligan, CEO, MQ Mental Health Research
