We speak to clinical psychologist, Dr Andrea Pickering, about the lasting effect of the Covid-19 lockdowns five years on.
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00:00The COVID pandemic had a major impact for young people across the board in terms of
00:05their education, their social life, you know, emotional well-being, and that's what we're
00:12seeing now.
00:13At Clinical Partners, we commissioned this research to look at the experience of young
00:17people between the ages of 18 and 25 since the pandemic, and we estimate over 2 million
00:25have experienced a decline in their mental health.
00:28So there is a mental health legacy to this pandemic that persists five years on.
00:32But I mean, it must have had quite a big sort of social effect on young people as well.
00:38So a third of the young people in our research described a decline in their social life,
00:45and still now feeling socially withdrawn, struggling to reconnect with the person that
00:51they were five years ago.
00:55And the parents described in the research as well that they struggle to find the adequate
01:00support for their young people, for their child.
01:03It seems to be a lot of young people are much more reliant on an online persona, on their
01:09online lives, and their social interactions in the real world seem to have dipped quite
01:13a bit, and that seems to be adding a lot of anxiety.
01:17Absolutely.
01:18And that's what they're describing.
01:19They're feeling that disconnection from people and from within themselves.
01:25So is there anything you think that could be done better or more in schools and universities?
01:32I mean, I think certainly since the pandemic, schools and universities have been integrating
01:38emotional well-being provision and mental health services within the educational provision
01:45already.
01:46And I think further more integration of that.
01:49So the young people feel it's right there.
01:52It's really accessible.
01:53They can have walk-ins and drop-ins.
01:57So it's less formal, because I get a sense from these young people that that's the bit
02:01that they fear the most.
02:03What would you hope the lasting legacy would be going forward in terms of mental health,
02:07specifically young people's mental health?
02:10I think what I'd hope is the legacy in 10 years' time is that we have taken the mantle
02:16and been really creative in our service provision, using IT solutions, using AI, using ways that
02:25help young people to really access support that they need.