Mental health in a pandemic- some thoughts in a thread: 1. I'm exhausted. It's impossible to switch off, and if you do, it’s very likely you would have missed an important Twitter announcement coming in at 22.30, because the government can't be bothered with press conferences.
2. We’re berated for not “staying alert” enough, "mingling" by bumping into a family on the street, but our government willingly breaks international law. Read that again. And again. 3. For a lot of people who were already at a low point, we have sunk lower.
Say goodbye to the banana bread days in March and hello to Brexit, chaos and frustration in December. 4. Hospital admissions and cases are on the up and all this is dismissed as "scaremongering" and "negativity" when it's reality. Positivity isn't pretending things don't exist.
5. I'm lost,I have a permanent headache, my chest fills with dread every time I think of Winter, and everything seems to be a deflection from something else. Don't talk about Brexit talk about testing, don't talk about tests talk about dinghies, is anybody talking about schools??
6. There are designated days where we talk about Suicide Prevention and mental health, and that's it. World Suicide Prevention Day passed and was barely covered. The suicide rate for men is rocketing. Light at the end of the tunnel, you say? There better be.
7. We choose our Prime Ministers on their ability to eat a bacon sandwich, all the politicians talk about the "will of the people", what "the British people" want. How do they know that? Stop the boat, I want to get off. On a side-note, how do people get offended by....a dance??
8. Social distancing? Masks? It's gone out the window, with the only place it is properly observed being TV interviews. Sorry, let me just step back from somebody who has no concept of it. I just want to...protect you?? Noel Gallagher, are you listening? news.sky.com/story/coronavi…
9. Very few are talking about the strain on schools, the #CovidTesting shambles, and I want to scream and shout and help schools, help #ExcludedUK but what can I do when the people at the top don't listen? When every email I send either doesn't get a response or is rejected?
10. Guilt. I'm part of *that* generation, you know the young, the generation blamed for just about everything under the sun. I wear a mask, maintain a distance, I don't want to harm others- what a shock, young people don't care, right? I do care, promise.
11. Even writing this is difficult. Basic functions. How I'm going to university in a pandemic is beyond me.
Just, for anyone reading- a day at a time. I will try and keep going, just hour by hour, second by second, and it will pass.
Be kind. Always. @matthaig1
12. And also, loneliness. I haven't seen anybody in months. Twitter just does have a way of making one feel invisible at times. Anyone reading, feel free to simply say hello.
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So, you’re wondering how university students are feeling? Let’s talk: mental health of the A-level 2020 kids, because now I actually have to make a PT 2.
I’m at university, and I feel like I’m being thrown to the wolves. (Please. read. this. thread.) #studentlockdown
1. Door handles. Shared kitchens. I’ve come into contact with more people in…a day…than I have in the past 6 months. Your social circle is limited to your corridor. These are supposed to be the best years of your life. I cannot see it. I'm lonely.
2. This is what the PM said: We will ensure that schools, colleges and universities stay open-because nothing is more important than the education, health and wellbeing of our young people, you said. Health? Health? Oh the IRONY. Wellbeing? Are you being serious? #studentlockdown
I made this thread 3 weeks ago, with 13 followers. It taught me that there are so many kind people in the world, that I can write, I can write relatively well, that if I shout loud enough then I will be heard. But as back to school nears, I am.....
sat looking at my uniform knowing I’ll never put it on again, craving the interaction and structure school provided.
School isn’t always a happy place for everybody. It definitely wasn’t at times for me. But in this period of unending time and limbo,watching headline after....
headline flicker after each other, company after company drop jobs, compounds the uneasy dread in my stomach.
I still have some dreams. I want to change the world. But for now, I am left to scrolling through empty word documents and social media.
(THREAD): Seeing as the PM can't seem to figure out the educational mess he's created and just why going back to school is a controversy, I thought I'd make a thread telling him. 1. We know there is little risk to children. We really, really, really do. See what I'm doing?
Repeating a word over and over again, just like you! 2. We want to go back to school. You're fighting this argument by yourself. We do. Teachers, students, parents would send their children BUT the main problems are adult-related. Why is that so difficult to understand?
Adults, adults, adults- the adults that teach the children, that run the school, the adults they come to, the cleaners, the staff, the grandparents. The risk of transmitting and carrying COVID to adults, especially those vulnerable, matters. It ain't rocket science.
(THREAD) So, let's talk: mental health of Y13s, because this week, everybody remembers we exist! 1. We 'left' school in March. No/little contact with school after, no work, no purpose. 2. Exams cancelled. Nobody knew anything for 2 days. #AlevelResults#alevels2020#alevels
3. 5 months of waiting for results. Blamed by Y12s for 'taking up uni places'. 5 months of listless boredom, time with our thoughts. 4. SQA Results come out- everyone panics. 5. Students can take their mock grades. We were told. At 22.30. On the 11th.
The mock grades are unfair for multiple reasons (who does better in mocks?), but also the fact people cheat, people see the question papers, leaving lots of students feeling stupid. 6. Results Day? Haha you think you can see teachers? Noooo, not quite...