🔍💡 Mental health of young people: listening to their own words to understand the lasting impact of Covid and adapt our field actions 🎒🧩 #MentalHealthYouth #Prevention
🔍💡 From lockdown to peer collectives: when notebooks, documentaries and support spaces become concrete tools to support young people after Covid 🎬🤝#Youth #CommunityHealth
📌This text finely illuminates the lasting effects of Covid on the mental health of children and adolescents, based on their own narratives and concrete field projects (notebooks, documentaries, peer collectives). It will directly interest professionals in health promotion, youth work, social services, education, and child psychiatry who need to adjust their actions to the post-Covid aftermath. The article provides elements to identify weak signals, understand differentiated experiences (gender, social background), and support collective initiatives of young people and parents. It can serve as support for designing activities, listening devices, discussion groups, or participatory projects in school and community settings.
📜🔗LINK to the source
📌Note: Youth mental health had already been weakened for several years, and Covid constituted an additional shock that worsened things and made them much more visible, without being the sole cause.
1. Analytical summary
Young generations marked over time
The article describes how the health crisis has profoundly reconfigured the daily lives of children and adolescents, with an experience of confinement far from being homogeneous according to social background, gender, and housing conditions. It is based on a participatory survey of 47 children aged 10–13, who produced notebooks of the type "diaries" that document fears, loss of self-esteem, family tensions, but also positive experiences such as sibling solidarity or the pleasure of shared time at home. Young people report a strong anxiety for their loved ones, an early confrontation with illness and death, and a feeling of "confinement" fueled by control measures (curfews, police checks). The article also recalls the significant increase in mental health disorders and associated indicators (long-term school absenteeism, use of child psychiatric emergency services, consumption of psychotropic drugs) among young people in Belgium and, by comparison, in France.
Resources, collectives and levers of action
On an operational level, the text highlights three complementary devices: a research-action project with children's notebooks, two documentaries giving voice to young people, and a peer collective "Everything will be fine" that has become a space for mutual aid, co-construction, and support for parents. It shows how these devices transform young people into "experts of their experience", actors in their support, and contributors to a more nuanced understanding of the crisis from the youth's perspective. The article provides practitioners with concrete examples of participatory methods (writing, drawing, action theatre, video, self-managed collective) and emphasizes the importance of safe spaces to discuss distress and the long-term effects of Covid. It underscores the necessity of not "turning the page" too quickly, but to maintain vigilance, recognize the ongoing transformations in young people's journeys, and make it a genuine public health issue.
2. Key points of the document
The Covid crisis as a heterogeneous experience, structured by inequalities
The article emphasizes that the experiences of lockdown are not homogeneous: they vary according to social contexts, living spaces, family composition, and gender, contrary to a simplistic view that homogenizes the suffering of young people.
Children regarded as political subjects and experts of their experience
Through the survey conducted by Jessica Brandler-Weinreb, children are recognized as "political subjects" capable of analysing health measures, producing a critical perspective on public policies, and documenting their own experiences through participatory notebooks.
A documented rise in indicators of psychological distress
The article recalls the significant increase in long-term school absenteeism (+170% in five years), the rise in the prescription of psychotropic drugs among young people (+132% for psychostimulants, +68% for antipsychotics in less than 20 years in Belgium) and the increase in emergency child psychiatry consultations, as well as the doubling of self-harming behaviours among young girls in France over ten years.
Documentaries as tools for visibility and advocacy
The two films "Everything will be fine (or not)" (2022) and "Everything has been fine (or not)" (2025) highlight the gap between the needs expressed by young people and institutional responses, giving a voice to both the young and the families and professionals concerned by the worsening of distress.
The collective "Everything will be fine" as a community health space
The collective that arises from the first film functions as a space for listening, peer support, and a "safe place" for young people, but also, in a new phase of the project, as a place of support and connections for parents facing guilt, loneliness, and a sense of helplessness in the face of their children's distress.
3. Action points for local actors
Integrate participatory notebooks into youth actions (see full article)
In school, community, or medico-social settings, offer children and adolescents writing and drawing notebooks about their experiences of Covid and current crises, inspired by the approach of personal journals described in the 2020–2023 survey, in order to gather feelings, identify warning signs, and contribute to shared diagnosis.
Use documentaries as tools for animation and debate (see full article)
Organise screenings of the films "Everything Will Be Fine (or Not)" and "Everything Has Been Fine (or Not)" in schools, youth centres, MDA, CMP or social centres, followed by structured discussion times with young people and families to work on recognising experiences, destigmatising distress, and identifying unmet needs.
Create or support peer collectives inspired by "Everything Will Be Fine" (see full article)
Support the establishment of youth self-help groups focused on speaking, sharing experiences, co-constructed initiatives, and self-organisation, adhering to the principles of a "safe place", voluntary participation, and non-judgment as described for the collective.
Develop support spaces for parents of young people in distress (see full article)
In addition to actions focused on young people, create or strengthen resource places for parents: discussion groups, information workshops, meet-up cafés, taking into account their feelings of guilt, isolation, and disorientation highlighted in the article.
Incorporate post-Covid mental health into local health plans (see full article)
Use the findings and data highlighted (absenteeism, prescriptions, emergencies, self-inflicted actions) to inform territorial diagnostics, raise awareness among elected officials, management teams, and partners, and explicitly integrate post-Covid mental health of young people into local projects, city contracts, CLS/CLSM, and prevention programmes.
4. Additional References
🔍➕ For more information, see the articles referenced by "Health Practices" on the theme of mental health and psychological well-being ➡️🔗 https://pratiquesensante.odoo.com/4-2-sante-mentale-et-psychique
5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How does the article define the impact of Covid on the mental health of young people?
The article describes a lasting imprint made of fears for loved ones, confrontation with illness and death, feelings of confinement, and loss of self-esteem, with varying intensities depending on social, family, and gender contexts.
Which young audiences are primarily concerned by the presented works?
Jessica Brandler-Weinreb's survey focuses on 47 children aged 10 to 13 attending Year 6 and Year 5 (Belgian equivalents of the end of primary and beginning of secondary), mainly from working-class backgrounds; Pierre Schonbrodt's documentaries focus on adolescents and young adults with mental health difficulties.
How is the notebook approach useful for field professionals?
The notebooks allow for the collection of rich material (writings, drawings) directly produced by the children, highlighting their interpretations, concerns, resources, and critical views on health measures, thus providing practitioners with a tool for listening, identifying, and co-analyzing the experiences of young people.
What types of disorders or difficulties are highlighted in the documentaries?
The films highlight situations of anxiety, school dropout, isolation, loss of confidence in the future, as well as an increase in referrals to child and adolescent psychiatric emergency services, long-term absenteeism, and the consumption of psychotropic drugs, giving a voice to both young people and families.
How does the collective "Everything will be fine" operate and what can we take from it for practice?
The collective is presented as a space for peer listening, open and non-mandatory, where young people can be themselves, without judgment, by sharing their experiences and co-constructing responses to their distress; it illustrates the importance of community health initiatives based on participation and mutual aid rather than a strictly medical approach.
Does the article propose specific ways to support parents?
Yes, it highlights the creation of a new "place of connections" for parents, addressing their feelings of guilt, loneliness, and distress; this place aims to offer them listening, sharing of experiences, and support, which invites professionals to integrate parents more into post-Covid support systems.
Why does the author insist on not "turning the page" too quickly?
Because the transformations in the life paths of young people related to the pandemic are still ongoing and often underestimated; for the author, recognising these lasting effects and continuing to listen to the voices of young people is a public health, research, and youth policy issue.
6. Rewriting in Easy-to-Read Language
Easy-to-Read Title
Mental health of young people after Covid
Easy-to-Read Summary – Context and effects
Covid changed the lives of children and young people.
Lockdown was difficult for many young people.
Some young people were afraid for their parents and loved ones.
Some felt trapped at home, like in prison.
Others also had pleasant moments with their families.
Girls and boys did not experience the same things.
FALC Summary – What the document brings
A researcher asked children to write in notebooks.
The children wrote and drew about their lives during Covid.
A videographer filmed young people who have been struggling since Covid.
A collective allows young people to talk to each other and help one another.
A new place also helps the parents of struggling young people.
The text states that we must still listen to young people today.
FALC Key Points
Covid has increased mental health issues among young people.
There is more absenteeism at school and more medication.
Children are able to explain what they have experienced.
The films show the lives of young people who are not doing well.
The collective "Everything will be alright" is a place to talk without judgment.
7. Cross-analysis — values of health practices
Literacy: The text remains expert but describes tools (notebooks, theatre, video) that facilitate the expression of children and young people at various levels of understanding.
Empowerment: Young people are recognised as "political subjects" and active participants in their support, producing their own narratives, theatre scenes, and public speech in the films and the collective.
Participation: Action research, creation research, and the collective rely on explicit forms of co-construction between researchers, professionals, and young participants.
Community health: The peer collective and the exchange mechanisms with parents are part of a logic of mutual support, social connection, and community response to post-Covid distress.
Ethics: The article questions the tendency of adults to homogenise and minimise the experiences of young people, and instead promotes a respectful listening to their words, without judgement.
Human rights: Taking into account social inequalities, housing and gender constraints, as well as advocating for the voices of young people, relates to the principles of equity and inclusion.
Intersectorality: The initiatives mobilise researchers, schools, the cultural sector, secular associations, and mental health actors, suggesting partnerships beyond the healthcare system alone.
Partnership: The construction of projects (research, films, collective) relies on formalised collaborations between academic institutions, lifelong education structures, and youth collectives.
Fight against discrimination: The text highlights differences in experiences related to gender and working-class backgrounds, and values non-judgemental spaces where the diversity of experiences can be expressed.
8. Evaluation of the reliability of the resource
Scientific relevance: The article is published in Éducation Santé, a recognised journal in health promotion in Belgium, and is based on an action-research/creation research survey conducted in a university setting (Centre Emile Durkheim, UCLouvain) as well as on quantitative data from previous work by CRéSaM and institutional grey literature. The findings are consistent with recent national and international data on the mental health of young people after Covid (Inserm, Drees, Santé publique France, OECD).
Operational relevance: The text is strongly rooted in field experiences (children's notebooks, documentaries, youth collective, support for parents), with intervention methods transferable to school, community or medico-social settings; it reflects signals raised by professionals and offers concrete and participatory responses.