OTR’s Clinical Director, Dr. Niklas Serning, appeared on BCFM Radio today talking about the work we do.
Listen to the full clip at this link – it’s the 17:00 17/05/2016 show at approx. 39 mins in.
Here are some key lines we’ve pulled out from Niklas’ interview.
[on why young people come to OTR]
“We are seeing a lot of young people struggling to have a happy life at the moment – but they come to us, and that’s a good thing”
“You come to OTR, have an introductory session and we’ll suss out who you are and what you need. Then, we have loads of offerings – groups, community action sessions, counselling – we can try different things”.
[on the distinction between mental health and mental illness]
“It can be useful to see a young person’s problem as distress – it makes sense, it’s normal to be unhappy about your situation – you’re reacting appropriately to a difficult situation”
“Fortunately, we now have a society where young people’s distress and unhappiness gets taken seriously. It’s not cool for you to be unhappy, and that’s why organisations such as OTR exist – when things aren’t working out for you”
[on self-harm]
“It makes sense in that person’s world to react really extremely to something they’re unhappy about. You come to OTR because you’re trying to manage a situation that’s getting out of hand – it could be a family situation, a school situation – maybe you use drugs, maybe you self-harm, maybe you’re anxious and depressed – those are ways of trying to sort it out, but when you come to us, we can explain that there are different, better ways to deal with this”
[on social media]
“If you snog the wrong guy – in my days, you might get teased there and then. If you do it now, it will be all over the place, especially online”
[on resilience]
“The Resilience Lab is really hands-on. To look at a mental health problem after it has happened… it’s a bit late. So what we’re trying to do here is teach mental ‘self-defence’; how do you live happily, how do you deal with problems, before it becomes too much?”
[on our groups, such as Mentality]
“Our community actions groups – you can actually be there for years [if you like!] – and that’s the beauty of it; you’ll be the one supporting others. Instead of adults telling a 14 year old what to do, you actually get a 16 year old, having some experience, informing the 14 year old what works – drawing from their own experience”.
Thanks to the folks at BCFM for having us in – appropriately, during Mental Health Awareness Week! Leave your thoughts on what we have to say on Facebook and Twitter.