It’s Challenge Poverty Week. Created by the Poverty Alliance in 2013, it’s about enabling organisations across Scotland to come together and call for a more equal Scotland, free from poverty.
Throughout the week, we are posting across our channels to raise awareness of specific issues highlighted by the Poverty Alliance, and the aligning work that MCR Pathways and our partner organisations are doing to support young people who experience poverty.
Today’s theme is “Better Investment In Life’s Essentials”, which presents an opportunity to shine light on a topic that our young people are incredibly passionate about – the rising costs of public transport, and the need for better mental health services for young people. Earlier this year, MCR Pathways heard many young people talk about their experiences with public services, especially public transport and mental health provision and their hopes about how these services can be expanded and improved to offer vital support for them and their peers to access life’s essentials.
When speaking to young people about services that could be improved to support them and their peers who experience poverty, young people focused on the ability to travel and to be better supported with their mental health and wellbeing.
On public transport, young people celebrated free bus travel for under 22’s but felt this could be extended further, especially for peers living in areas where buses were not the optimal option for travel. One young person had previously lived on a small island and had to use the ferry to access most activities as well as school; they felt excluded that they would have to pay for a fairy to access activities that their peers that lived on the mainland could get to for free using the bus. Other young people that lived in central Glasgow, where train or subway travel are more effective than buses, again felt that they were penalised for not using the bus.
This could also be applied for young people that travel far distances to school or university/college where train travel is the quickest and most effective route, “With free bus travel, why is it just bus travel, why not free train travel, that might be more efficient for certain people.”. With this in mind, MCR Pathways is pleased to support the Scottish Youth Parliament manifesto calls; to ensure all public transport is accessible and reliable and the expansion of free bus travel for under 22’s to cover all forms of public travel up to the age of 26.”
Young People are very aware of how experiences of poverty can affect their mental health. They want more support for mental health in school. “I know a lot of teachers will literally say it to us as ‘well we have no idea what we’re doing here’. So, I feel like they really need more awareness…because it is important and it’s not their fault they don’t know anything about it”. Young people deserve to feel like their mental health and wellbeing are being taken care of at school and in their communities.
This is why MCR Pathways are endorsing the Scottish Youth Parliament’s manifesto calls for more investment into community-led mental health support for young people as well as their ongoing campaign to enhance mental health training and education for all education and healthcare staff ; alongside pre-existing community-led mental health support initiatives such as SAMH’s ‘The Nook’.
MCR Pathways are co-sponsoring the Scotland Demands Better March, organised by the Poverty Alliance on the 25th of October in Edinburgh to help ensure young people’s voices are heard on this and many more matters.
To join us on the day, get in contact with our Policy team at policy@mcrpathways.org.
