Local young people losing hope for their long-term future

4th February 2021

New research by local youth charity No Limits shows that 82% of young people are worried about their long-term future with only 17.5% thinking that the pandemic hadn’t had a negative impact on their life chances.

Although 65% felt their emotional wellbeing had worsened in the first lockdown, a third also believed that the ‘new normal’ had lead to further problems, raising concerns at the charity that both this lockdown and what comes next will have a significant impact on many young people’s mental health. This new research shows that 30% of children and young people feel they don’t have anyone to talk to about how they’re feeling.

No Limits provide advice and support to around 7,000 children and young people each year. Its services include an out of hours Safe Haven project in three locations in Hampshire and Isle of Wight for young people suffering emotional crisis and a youth worker service for young people presenting at the Emergency Department at University Hospital Southampton in emotional crisis. This service has just been expanded to the Emergency Department at Portsmouth’s Queen Alexandra Hospital.

Alice Mooney, Service Manager, says “We are seeing a large number of children and young people needing support as well as an increase in the complexity of their issues. The constant uncertainty of the last year has exacerbated situations for young people we were already supporting and created a whole new cohort of those who have never sought help before. We need to ensure that services are available for all those who need them as we start to emerge into a new normal yet again.”