Survey shows Derbyshire youths are content

The majority of the county's youths are happy and coping well with life according to a new survey.
County Hall, Matlock.County Hall, Matlock.
County Hall, Matlock.

Derbyshire County Council is looking into ways to support and improve young people’s mental health as one of its key priorities.

As part of this, the ‘My Life, My View’ survey was commissioned to gauge they youth’s emotional health and wellbeing.

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The confidential emotional health survey was targeted at year eight pupils with the aim of finding out what they were concerned about, who they spoke to when they were worried and what can be done to help them cope with their problems.

The survey was carried out last year by The Training Effect and 26 schools took part with a total of 3,034 young people.

It revealed that 60 per cent of young people talked to their friends about things that bothered them but 29 per cent kept things to themselves.

The majority of young people were happy with their lives but 15 per cent reported a low sense of happiness and ten per cent said they experienced emotional difficulties.

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It will be repeated with the same group of pupils until they reach year 11 to track changes in young people’s emotional health and wellbeing.

The same survey will also be repeated for the next three years with year eight pupils.

Health and communities chief Councillor Dave Allen said: “The survey reveals that there are still a significant number of people who have emotional health difficulties or are turning to unsuitable methods of coping with problems.

“Mental health and wellbeing is vital to a happy and healthy life and we are committed to working in partnership with other agencies across the county to ensure all of our children have the best possible start in life.“