Young People

Emotions and feelings can be complicated and confusing at times - sometimes all you know is that you don’t feel right in yourself. You could be feeling numb, distant, anxious, confused, frustrated or empty - to name a few.

If you are struggling with how you're feeling in certain situations, it's not necessarily because you have a problem, or because something is wrong. We all have moments where we find it hard to understand our feelings, and you shouldn't feel bad about it when it happens to you. Instead, you should give yourself permission to feel whatever you need to feel in that moment and then find positive ways look after yourself.

If you are not sure how you feel, here are some apps, websites and downloads that you might find helpful.

Feeling worried can be a normal part of our lives. Sometimes feeling anxious can be helpful as it gets us to do things to protect ourselves or solve problems. However, there are moments when worrying about something too much can be overwhelming, and it can stop you from doing the things you want to do.

Anxiety can look differently for everyone. Some people might find that they feel it physically (such as breathlessness, sweating, shaking, feeling tense) whereas others might feel emotions like anger, frustration, confusion and sadness. Anxiety can also make us feel like we are unable to do certain things or make us obsess over our thoughts, compelling us to do specific tasks.

If you want to learn more about feeling worried, here are some apps, websites and downloads that you might find helpful.

At times during our lives, things will happen to us that make us feel sad and how this looks can vary from person to person. You might know some friends who become withdrawn or tearful when sad, whereas others might become angry or try to hide how they’re feeling. Usually, sadness is something that comes and goes, but sometimes it can hang around longer than we expected.

Sometimes feeling sad can impact your life and make daily tasks difficult, such as lacking motivation, not wanting to be around people and finding it hard to concentrate.

If you want to learn more about feeling sad, here are some apps, websites and downloads that you might find helpful.

When we think about the way we feel about ourselves we call this self-esteem. People with a healthy self-esteem will generally have more positive opinions about who they are. They may sometimes not like certain parts of themselves (like personality or appearance) but in general they can deal with this without it having a long-term negative impact on them. People with a low self-esteem tend to have very negative opinions about themselves. They often focus on the parts of them they don't like and find it hard to see the positive parts of who they are.

If you want to learn more about self-esteem, here are some apps, websites and downloads that you might find helpful.

What people call home and their family can be very different. They are made up of different people, with varying needs, ideas, characters and ways in which they behave. This can make family something very special but equally very complicated and difficult. It can be normal for families not to get along sometimes. Every family has problems even if they are happy and don't usually argue.

Problems at home can appear in different ways. For some it can be arguments, separation or money problems, and at other times it can be abuse (sexual, emotional or physical), drugs or alcohol. If things at home are getting too much for you and you feel scared, worried or unsafe, you can get help and advice online (Childline). You can also speak to your teacher, GP, School Nurse or local social services on 0800 131 3126.

Bullying can make you feel lonely and insignificant, anxious, frustrated and low in confidence. You may experience some or all of these feelings. What bullying looks like can be different to each person, for some it can be physical, whereas for others it might be verbal (either face to face or online). It can be a one-off event or it can be ongoing, but in any form it is hurtful and unacceptable and can make an individual’s life difficult.  It affects over one million young people every year and can happen to anyone.

If you want to learn more about bullying, here are some apps, websites and downloads that you might find helpful. Whilst these resources are useful, if you or someone you know is being bullied it’s important that you speak to a trusted adult to get further help and advice. Whilst that might sound like a scary or nerve wracking thing to do, we know that the best way to beat bullying is by having the support of family, friends and professionals who can help you.

We can all have problems with sleeping, waking, or having bad dreams sometimes. It is very common for people of all ages to have this. Sleep can be influenced by diets, lifestyles, worries, stress, anxieties and big changes such as moving to a new house or school.

Sleep problems can come in various forms such as disturbed sleep (where you keep waking up in the night), not being able to get off to sleep, insomnia, nightmares, sleep paralysis (where you wake up but can’t move) bed wetting and sleep walking.

If you want to learn more about sleep difficulties, here are some apps, websites and downloads that you might find helpful.

Many people experience problems with eating. They can occur at any age but often affect teenagers, both males and females. Eating problems can appear in many different ways. When we think about this our first thoughts are often around restricting food, either to lose weight, or for other reasons. It might also look like eating lots in one go, which we call binging, this can sometimes be followed by actions like restricting food, making yourself vomit or taking laxatives. Both restricting and binging can cause serious damage to your physical health.

Other problems with eating can be struggling with the taste or texture of certain foods. This can make it difficult for someone to get nutrition that is needed and can cause social difficulties such as eating out with family/friends. Some difficulties such as anxiety and low mood can impact on our appetite making us feel not hungry or that we don’t want to, or can't, eat. If you feel that anxiety or low mood is affecting your eating then you might find our other sections “I’m feeling worried” or “I’m feeling sad” helpful, as when we focus on getting help in these areas our appetite will come back. 

Eating problems can be very distressing and it can be hard for those around you to understand and know how to support you. If you are struggling with any of these issues, it’s important to speak to a trusted adult and get the help you need. We’ve also included some online resources below that you might find helpful.

Anybody can hear voices, sometimes this is inside your head and sometimes through your ears. They might seem clear or more muffled. Some people who hear voices have a positive experience of the voices they hear and they are helpful in their lives. Other people experience them as unkind, critical and that they negatively impact their life. Sometimes the voices can be heard once and then never again, they may come in particular situations like when we feel more stressed and anxious, and other times they are more persistent and there a lot. Some young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder can struggle with making sense of internal thinking or conversations we may have inside our own heads, these can be interpreted as “voices”.

Hearing voices, or auditory hallucinations, can be a part of a mental health problem, such as Psychosis, which requires a careful assessment by a mental health professional. However, Psychosis is not common in young people and the “voices” are more often related to anxiety, substance misuse, difficult situations or a traumatic event such as a bereavement, family breakdown or experiencing abuse.

It is very important to understand that not everyone hearing voices needs support or help with their mental health and wellbeing; however it may be wise to seek help if the voices become hostile, intimidating, giving instructions and start to have a negative impact on your day to day living.

There can be different reasons why we don’t feel safe at times, this could be that we feel at risk of harm from someone else, from ourselves or feel that we might hurt others.

If you feel that you are at risk of harm from someone else you need to tell an adult about this as soon as possible. They will then be able to talk this through with you and support in keeping you safe. It might also be helpful to look at the I’m feeling bullied page or I’m struggling with relationships page on our website. You can also talk to your parents, a teacher, family member, other professional or call NSPCC on 0808 800 5000.

If you are having worrying thoughts about harm to other people, it might be helpful to look at our I’m feeling worried section, as these could be intrusive or unwanted worry thoughts.

Suicidal thoughts can range from thinking about ending your life, or feeling that people would be better off without you, to thinking about methods of suicide, or making clear plans to end your life. If you are feeling suicidal, you might be scared or confused by these feelings, but you are not alone. If you are really struggling please seek help via our urgent help section or if you feel you are at immediate risk then call 999. You can also call Samaritan’s on 116 123.

There are many reasons why someone might use drugs and alcohol. For some it might be as a result of peer pressure or experimenting during teenage years. For others they will try to use it to manage their mental health, believing that it will make them feel better. Whatever you reason for using drugs or alcohol it’s important for you to know that long term use of either will have a negative impact on your physical and mental health. If you want to learn more about how you can help yourself with regards to drugs and alcohol, then check out the links below for more information and advice.

Self-harm is when someone hurts themselves on purpose, usually as a way to cope with difficult situations, feelings and thoughts. It can also be used as a way of expressing how they are feeling or releasing difficult emotions that are too hard to talk about. Using self-harm as a coping strategy often only helps temporarily with how a person is feeling, which is why we will always encourage them to slowly replace self-harm with more positive/healthy strategies.

Below we have some resources that share some more information about self-harm as well as some useful distraction techniques and coping strategies. Whilst these resources are useful, if you or someone you know is self-harming it’s important that you speak to a trusted adult to get further help and advice. Whilst that might sound like a scary or nerve-wracking thing to do, we know that the best way to overcome self-harm is by having the support of family, friends and professionals who can guide you through every step.