Supporting the 25% of school leavers with mental health challenges

Unfortunately, teen mental health issues are often overlooked or written off as “typical teen angst” during exams and transition out of compulsory education. 

At Futures, we understand this isn't the case and there are a huge number of factors impacting today’s youth that previous generations have not been faced with, including an increased pressure to succeed academically and the impact of social media and unattainable social standards.   

Our specialist youth team based in Nottingham support school leavers to make their post-16 education choices with not just professional careers advice, but importantly trained mental health professionals.  

Poppy, a 16 year old school leaver from Nottingham, walked through the Futures Nottingham doors in March 2023 to be greeted by one of our Senior Advisers, Michaella Stokes.  

Michaelle commented “I was delighted to meet Poppy and her mum when they first visited the centre, my experience told me this was a young lady with the drive to control her future but she had some personal barriers I needed to help her overcome.”   

In their first interaction, like many young people we meet, Poppy knew this was the first time in her life she was able to focus all her energies on study or work that she found personally fulfilling, but wasn’t sure what that looked like.

"I explained my mental health challenges and Michaella was immediately accommodating, scheduling for my first careers guidance meeting to take place at home. It was here that I realised working with animals didn’t just have to be a personal interest, there were real jobs locally that I could work towards.”.  

Poppy continued “Michaella also supported me with my mental health, I didn’t feel judged and knew that I could take my time and that there was no pressure from Futures.”  

Michaella identified an appropriate Animal Care course at a Nottingham college that offered fantastic wellbeing support as well as academic outcomes for Poppy. With full wrap around support, we arranged for a private visit to the college so Poppy could decide if she felt this was the right place for her.  

“At first I was apprehensive about a dedicated visit, but I can see why Michaella thought it would be a good idea to visit as I knew as soon as I walked through the door, I would be happy there. I’ve now secured my place at the college and can’t wait to start in September!”.  

We recently touched based with Poppy to see how she was feeling about her decision. She told us she is feeling so comfortable in her upcoming training, that she is using the CV we created to look for part time work also!

“The biggest change for me is that I feel that my mental health is improving, Michaella has helped me to help myself!"

If you’re a young person or parent needing more personalised guidance than is available via school or the internet, you can walk through the Futures doors and find just that.  

Our Nottingham Centre is located at 57 Maid Marian Way, Nottingham NG1 6GE.