joined Tomlinson as a speaker.
“Those are the two extremes, and… all of us, young people, old people… all of us at various times move up and down that line,” he said. “I think that definitely in this day and age, social media, whether it be the things that we see, the expectations that we’re kept up to… can definitely put a very hard strain on your mental wellness,” she said. “Misinformation and lies spread by the internet can also be something leading to bad mental health.”
“The core of everything is the relationship – build trusting, thoughtful, caring relationships with your children, with your nieces, with your nephews, with other young people in the community. And through your actions, show them that you’re somebody who can be trusted,” he said. “The other side of that is then, very often, toxic relationships can actually be fixed, can be improved… Of course, that’s not always possible, but where it is – particularly if it’s within the family itself – then that really is absolutely vital, because we are all drawn to our families.”
South Africa continues to have a shortage of mental health care services for the support of young people. This is problematic as the longer mental health struggles go untreated, the worse they will get, according to Tomlinson.