Mental Health is our emotional, psychological and social well being. It affects how you feel, think, act and helps determine your handle of stress and the making of your choices. It is important at every stage of your life from childhood to adulthood. The question you are probably thinking is: how does it affect young people?

Well, a vast amount of youngsters have mental health from a very very young age. Hopefully in the article we can cover how it affects young people and how we can help those youngsters. Young people and adult teens are very different so probably the type of mental health and methods might be very different.

Mental health problems affect about 1 in 10 children and young people. They include depression, anxiety and personality disorders and can be a direct response to what is happening in their lives.

Alarmingly, however, 70% of young people who experience a mental health issue have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age. 

Our top tip for young people is keep a notebook or diary and write down your feelings, try turning them into poems, or just tell your feelings. 

The emotional well being of young people is just as important as their physical health. Good mental health allows us to develop the resilience to cope with whatever life throws at us and grow into well-rounded, healthy adults.

We've put together a list of things that can help keep young people mentally well:

• Being in good physical health, eating a balanced diet and getting regular exercise

• Having time and freedom to play, indoors and outdoors

• Going to a school that looks after the well being of all of its pupils

• Taking part in local activities for young people

• Being part of a family that gets along well most of the time

Want to know why? This is how it would make us feel:

• Feeling loved, trusted, understood, valued and safe

• Accepting who we are and recognising what we're good at

• Feeling like we have one control over our own lives

• Being interested in life and opportunities to enjoy ourselves

• Being able to learn and have opportunities to succeed

• Having a sense of belonging

• Having the strength to cope when something is wrong (resilience)

Our top tip for young people is keep a notebook or diary and write down your feelings, try turning them into poems, or just tell your feelings. 

To conclude, we believe that we should help those who are in need and understand their struggles. 

This story was written by Aqeelah, 11 and design by Aribah, 11

It was produced as part of the #Unfiltered Project supported by Young Londoners Fund, The Mayor of London.