Sophie Bloomfield, a Member of Youth Parliament from Guisborough, has also researched the problem of violence among young people
Sophie Bloomfield in the House of Commons
A Member of Youth Parliament whose campaign is attempting to tackle a “crisis point” in young people’s mental health says banning social media for under 16s would not provide an answer to this and many other issues teens face.
Sophie Bloomfield, from Guisborough, whose two year term as a MYP for Redcar and Cleveland ends in April, is helping to signpost local mental health support and provide a clear pathway whereby youngsters can self-refer to services independently and discretely.
Her website which contains relevant information can be linked to via a QR code able to be scanned with a mobile phone. Premises who have signed up and displayed the QR code include the Regent Cinema in Redcar, while several schools are promoting the ‘Strike the Stigma’ campaign also.
The Government is looking at the potential of a social media ban for under 16s – following countries such as Australia – and has also issued guidelines to parents of under 5s in order to limit screen time. Sophie previously helped to carry out research as part of a youth select committee looking at links between social media and youth violence with a report eventually being presented to 10 Downing Street.
She said: “Rather than tackling issues head on and the way social media can amplify them, you’d be sweeping them under the carpet of a ban. When someone re-joins social media on their 17th birthday, they won’t have the tools or the knowledge to know how to react to negative situations.
“Yes we should be holding big tech companies accountable and make social media a safe space for young people, but I do not think an outright ban is the way. We don’t need a blanket policy, we need lots of smaller scale solutions to things that are complex and detailed and work for different people.”
The ex-Laurence Jackson School pupil has just completed her GCSEs and is now studying Spanish, chemistry and biology at Queen Elizabeth’s Sixth Form College, in Darlington. She said, from her own experience and that of friends, along with young people she had spoken to in the area, many were reaching a “point of crisis before their wellbeing needs are noticed”.
The QR code (inset) which links to Sophie Bloomfield’s website is on display at the Regent Cinema
Sophie said: “My aim with this project is to allow young people to access reliable wellbeing information, choose a service which they feel could best support them, and access support wherever, whenever, and however they would like. “
The 16-year-old added: “There is a lack of accessibility for mental health support for young people, especially in rural areas like Redcar and Cleveland. The campaign is also about getting people to talk more openly about mental health.
“I reached out to quite a few services [for the campaign] and met with some of them, and the collection [of services] we have got at the minute is really great, it is a wide spread of different therapies and treatments. They have been involved every step of the way in developing this project.”
The UK Youth Parliament was established 25 years ago and is made up of more than 300 young people aged between 11 and 18. It provides opportunities to bring about social change through meaningful representation and campaigning.
Sophie in Downing Street(Image: UGC)
Youngsters vote for their MYPs in elections every two years, which are held in over 70% of constituencies, and often in schools. Funded through a grant from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the UK Youth Parliament brings young people into the policymaking and parliamentary process, with direct access to decision makers.
Once a year the House of Commons is given over to its elected members to speak on issues of interest to them and their peers. MYPs produce a manifesto, but unlike MPs are not attached to political parties.
Sophie said while politics were a part of her life as it “impacts everything we do”, her immediate aim was to focus on her A-Levels and get the grades needed to study biomedical sciences at university since she has an interest in modern neuroscience. She said: “It’s about seeing where my studies take me, enjoying that, branching out to different things, and ‘Strike the Stigma’ will still be a part of that.”
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