Roman Kemp: The Fight for Young Lives dives deeper into mental health - "People were talking more, but the help wasn’t there for them"
After the last film ended, I went through a couple of years of pushing that narrative; everyone needs to talk more, the general public needs to do their bit, be the hero to their friends. There came a point when I started to wonder ‘have we done our bit, and what’s next?’. Because what I kept seeing is the numbers were just getting worse and worse, and I wanted to know why that was.
Back when I was a kid, if there was a disaster somewhere – and earthquake – I would only be exposed to that horrific news if I saw it in the newspaper or the news on telly that night. Nowadays, within 2 minutes a child has the capability of seeing it on their phone. Therefore, what’s happening is there is an exponential growth that’s side by side with technology and exposure to bad news.I met a lot of incredible schools and a lot of incredible charities.
The letter was figuring it out as I go. And it wasn’t until those last few days I decided to do it and it was a last resort. People are not being listened to. I’m someone who is privileged and has a platform, so I’m going to have to use that.
So, my idea, and what I would like to see, is that every school – even if one child is having those types of thoughts – that they have someone that they could go to, to talk to and to be properly cared for.Do you think things have changed since you made Our Silent Emergency. Is depression and suicidal thoughts less 'taboo' - do you feel more people are sharing?