A third year wants you to write letters to your 16-year-old self

Balancing uni work, socialising, exercising, family, and friends is tough for any student. Balancing this with mental health issues such as anxiety, schizophrenia and depression (to name a few) is a difficulty for one in four young adults.

Instead of opting for a 10,000 word dissertation (good choice), English Language, Communication and Publishing third year at Oxford Brookes, Hannah Todd decided on a project.

The project in progress

This project named, ‘Hello me, it’s you’ seeks to normalise the current mental health situation of many people and aims to start a conversation on the topic.

The campaign is a book compiled of letters from young adults aged 17-24, writing to their 16 year old self, that have had experiences with mental health.

Meet Hannah: the face of this campaign

What was your inspiration behind the name of this project?

When I wrote my letter to my 16 year old self those were the words that came out. They just seemed to fit.

Your blog posts talk a lot about making young adults feel like they are not alone, is this project something you wish you had access to when you were 16?

I think everyone feels a little bit like they’re the only one experiencing what they’re feeling at any time in their lives. It’s very easy to be feeling down and think that no one can understand you. While I think people react to and experience situations differently, I think people would be surprised how many common themes crop up in situations of extreme emotion.

From what we’ve had submitted so far, there are people from all different backgrounds, ages and experiences and yet they all seem to have a common positive message – they believe things will get better.

I think this is helpful for people of any age but especially for young adults.

Why do you think people are so quiet about mental health?

I think there is a huge amount of negative stigma surrounding mental health.  No one wants to be known as “crazy” or any other number of negative labels. I think if people realise how common mental health issues are they might be more supportive.

Hannah wants to start a conversation about MH

Did you have any doubts about going forward with this?

Definitely! It’s so scary telling every future employer, partner or friend I’ve experienced something like this. We all know what trolls are like, throwing myself at the mercy of the internet was a pretty scary prospect.

I’ve only had one vaguely negative comment; they likened the project to using a common cold to launch my media career. It just showed me how much work needs to be done to ensure a basic level of understanding on mental health issues.

I was sure I wanted the letters to be anonymous for this reason. People are brave enough to share let alone face any backlash which may come around from people who don’t understand.

Anonymous excerpts of the letters can be found on the Twitter page.

Have any of the responses been hard to read?

They’ve all been surprising for me. People are completely honest about their experiences and emotions that I’ve been blown away by it. After reading each one I’ve had to take a minute to take them in.

people are ready to share and have turned things so difficult into something so positive.

Hannah fills her YouTube channel with encouragement and information about this campaign.

What can people do to be involved?

You can submit your letters online here before October 11th.