The Appointment of a Love Island Star as Youth Mental Health Ambassador

The appointment of Doctor Alex is a drop in the ocean to combat the current mental health crisis, but it’s a good start.

With the recent news of Doctor Alex George being appointed as the UK’s Youth Mental Health Ambassador, it was only a matter of time until I put in my two cents about the topic.

Doctor Alex is a former Love Island contestant, and has since featured in many news-paper headlines for battling Covid-19 on the frontline, and promoting tips to young people for better mental health and well-being on the social media app Tik Tok. The doctor’s efforts have continuously been praised nationwide, and after meeting with prime-minister Boris Johnston, he has now also taken on the unpaid role as the UK’s ambassador of mental health for young people.

The former Love Island star has been passionately campaigning for better mental-health provisions and services after heartbreakingly losing his little brother to suicide. In his new role, Alex will be advising the government to help shape policies on improving support for young people, and raise the profile of mental health education and well-being in schools.

I would like to begin this piece by stating that I whole-heartedly praise and congratulate Doctor Alex for his accomplishments – his efforts have led to a huge breakthrough, in that the poor mental-well being of many young people in society is beginning to be recognised by the government.

However, the battle of poor mental health and well-being amongst society goes way beyond ‘tips to keep your mind healthy’ and a 4% budget increase by the government to ‘better’ fund mental health services. That being said, Alex’s campaign to embed compulsory mental health teaching across schools is an extremely positive start.

The problem with our current approach to mental health, is that as it stands, there are currently no primary prevention strategies in place – only secondary and crisis prevention. What this means, is that a lot of the time, many people (young and old) are either not getting access to, or are only receiving medical care for their poor mental state, once they have already reached a point of crisis. What we need, is a government led primary prevention strategy.

You’re probably thinking, ‘’well what is primary prevention’’ or ‘’what would primary prevention entail?’’ Think of primary prevention as being a seed for healthy well-being. It involves tackling the root causes of mental well-being, as opposed to treating the symptoms when poor mental health has already occurred. Addressing the root causes prevents a person’s mental well-being from deteriorating, and if we can address the causes, this can create a happier, healthier society for everybody. After all, ‘’a tree with strong roots laughs at storms.’’ With this in mind, Doctor Alex’s campaign to embed the teaching of mental health within the school curriculum is a fantastic starting point – it better educates young people around the topic, and thus we can assume that young people and teachers will be able to recognise and offer support to individuals should it be needed. It increases awareness, and it encourages well needed, honest discussions within institutions.

Implementing a government led primary prevention strategy would ultimately rectify many already current issues, including our overstretched and overwhelmed mental health access and services. This is because if we tackled the root causes of poor mental well-being, it is believed that not so many people would need access to mental health services. Thus, care would be much more adequate and more easily accessed.

Recent statistics tell us that 1 in 4 people experience mental health issues each year. What’s more, one in six children aged 5-16 years have been identified as having a probable mental disorder. So, what’s causing society to suffer? If we were to compare present times with the 1960’s, you would find these statistics to be near non-existent. Noted, in previous years there has been a huge negative stigma surrounding mental well-being. However, what is undeniable is the ever-evolving society changes, and what comes with societal change, follows with societal pressure.

For example, the university experience sold to us is not the university experience in which we receive – and the university that is sold to us is the same university that was sold to the same generation which came 20 years or so before us. With that, the current generation is facing new pressures and challenges which no other generation has had to face before.

Many believe social media is to blame for the increase in poor mental well-being. Yet, what many people fail to remember or consider, is that since 2008, the UK has faced 2 recessions and a global pandemic. In the last year, 320,000 people were reportedly sleeping rough and were homeless. Before the pandemic, 14.5 million people were living in poverty. Since the pandemic, an estimated 900,000 more children have sought free school meals on top of the 1.4 million already dependant on these. The UK terror threat level remains substantial since the Manchester Bombing. In the 1960s, the average house price was just £2,530, compared to a staggering £231,215 today. In 2008, university tuition fees cost £3,000 per year, whereas they now stand at £9,250 (and are continuously increasing).

So - the next time 56 year old John calls 22 year old Sarah a snowflake for being worried about money, diluting her problems with the ever so common response, ‘’well in my day I had to fight wars’’, (or something along those lines), be sure to educate him on this matter and remind him that actually unless he is around 96 years old, then no he didn’t. It is quite fair to argue that the generations before us have had it quite a bit simpler.

When you consider the few of many societal changes presented above, it is easy to see both how and why, collectively, many of us are suffering. Whilst I am an advocate for young people’s mental well-being in particular, such issues affect people of all ages – which is why I struggle to comprehend why the public would rather spend time undermining each other as ‘lefty snowflakes’, as opposed to redirecting that energy to actually hold our government accountable for their incompetence’s and failures to take responsibility. Many of these issues have proven to be solvable in countries where the government has had the will to do so. This is not a left vs right political debate – this is a matter of blatant government incompetency and people should be outraged, whether the person to fault is Keir Stahmer or Boris Johnston; failing to take responsibility, is exactly that - failing to take responsibility.

On one hand, I personally perceive the appointment of Doctor Alex as ambassador to be a quick, panic fuelled solution used to merely look like the government is addressing the issue. For me, it is somewhat conflicting that a reality tv star, from a show known to negatively impact (and at times, purposely too) contestants for the public’s entertainment, to now be a government ambassador. This is by no means bashing Doctor Alex, as previously stated the fact that he has been appointed following public calls is an accomplishment in itself, (not forgetting all of his incredibly hard work throughout the pandemic). However, the questions still stands – why only after public scrutiny, following the death of another celebrity (or in this instance, somebody related to a celebrity), has the government decided to try and take action? Furthermore, of all medical professionals in the UK, why is it that Doctor Alex, a person arguably of celebrity status, has specifically been appointed? I understand that he may be an ‘influencer’, but surely there are many other likeable medical professionals who share the same passion as Doctor Alex who could have driven this, prior to public demands on social media? Although I do not doubt Doctor Alex’s ability or his intentions for this role, I cannot help but feel that the mental health ambassador should be a person who has many years’ experience and practice in this specific area (being mental health).

We saw similar responses after the death of Caroline Flack, with celebrities all over the television and social media calling for the public to #BeKind following similar mental health campaigns. So I guess what I’m asking is, why is that mental health is arguably only *seemingly* addressed, when a person of status (meaning for example, a celebrity or public figure), has lost their life? This simply exacerbates my previous statement; that mental health is only addressed once an individual has reached a point of crisis. More specifically, it could also be said that it is only perceived to be of significance when it has affected somebody of status, as suicide rates were soaring before celebrity campaigns occurred. Although celebrity led campaigns present fantastic initiative by those who use their platforms for the better good, the status of an individual should not be indicative of their ability to impact government decisions. The government is there to represent the people – that is all people, not just people with power, money, and/or status.

On the other hand, I am thrilled that Doctor Alex’s campaign has been recognised, and do hope that his campaign to implement the compulsory teaching of mental health throughout schools is a success. His appointment is a drop in the ocean, but is an incredibly positive start in implementing a government led primary prevention strategy.

As a nation, I feel that now more than ever we need to hold our government accountable for these issues which they either incite or ignore. We need to take the time to educate ourselves further on these societal and constructive matters which contribute to the deterioration of mental health. We must listen to what each other need. Embrace uncomfortable conversations around the dinner table. Protest on our platforms, donate to causes, sign petitions and amplify our voices.