The UK is facing a mental health crisis among young people – and Love Island’s Paige Turley is doing her bit to help make a change.
The Love Island series six star has been open in the past about her personal mental health journey, and how suicide has touched her own life. Last year, Paige ran the London Half Marathon in honour of her friend Jamie – who lost his life to suicide in December 2022 at just 20 years old.
Which is exactly why Paige has now partnered up with mental health charity CALM for their Missed Birthdays campaign. The campaign, running from the 9-11 September, will see one of London’s biggest shopping centres filled with 6,929 balloons, each one representing a real young life lost to suicide, and a birthday never reached.
While two fifths of young people in the UK have said they have experienced a mental health crisis or suicidal thoughts, CALM’s research found that just 15 per cent of parents and carers have spoken about the subject with their loved ones. Marking suicide prevention week, Missed Birthdays is a chance to break down the taboo – bringing life-changing conversations into homes across the UK.
Now, heat sat down with Paige to learn how her own personal experiences have spurred her to help make a change.
What made want you get involved in CALM’s campaign?
CALM’s campaign is all about missed birthdays. We’re taking over Westfield in London, and just under 7,000 balloons are going to be installed. Every balloon is going to be for somebody who’s lost their life to suicide, so each balloon represents a different person’s story. Me personally, I’ve been affected by mental health and suicide - I’ve had a couple of friends who have died by suicide. It’s the biggest killer for young people in the UK. This is a movement to start a tough conversation that needs to be had.
As someone with firsthand experience of how intense it can be online, do you think social media is playing a part in young people’s mental health?
It’s an interesting one, because it’s difficult to try and work social media. Back in my mum and dad’s day, it wasn’t a thing, so it can be hard for older generations to really grasp it. For example, kids being bullied - it used to be that at 3:30 when school finished, that would be it. Now with social media, it’s around the clock. Obviously having come from Love Island, social media is a huge part of that. It really opens your eyes to how brutal people can be. As much as there’s so many amazing things that happen with it – you’re able to post your achievements and get in touch with family around the world – there’s also a lot of people who can say whatever they want. And I think for young people nowadays, there’s such a pressure on having certain clothes, looking a certain way, or living a certain lifestyle, and that can be really toxic. It’s a huge part of mental health.
Do you think a big step in improving young people's mental health is having these honest conversations and showing them it's okay to ask for help?
Looking back at my journey now, obviously I went to therapy and hypnotherapy - I’ve done pretty much everything you can think of - but I only really spoke to my family and friends about it all afterwards. If only I’d opened up and let people know the true extent... It’s a difficult conversation, not just to have, but for family members and friends to hear as well. That’s probably what I was more scared of, having my family worrying about me. Mental health has been such a taboo subject for so long, so it’s about changing people’s perceptions. The majority of young people I know have been through their own rocky stages and had mental health struggles. After we lost my friend Jamie, it was a shock to everyone. It was like, “Right, we really need to be having these conversations and checking on each other.” Unfortunately, it took for something like that before it really hit home that this is serious, and we need to check in with each other – because it got to a point where it was like, who’s next?
If someone out there is reading this and struggling with their mental health, or are concerned about a young person they know, where should they turn to?
CALM have a C.A.R.E kit online to help adults discuss suicide with young people, which is amazing. CALM have also got free, anonymous helplines where you can call in and speak to a professional. Like I say, it can be a difficult conversation to have, especially with people you know. I know the NHS is under a lot of stress and waiting lists to speak to someone can be a long time – and things can get drastically worse very, very quickly. So as much as I would love to say go and speak to a loved one, there are other avenues and helplines out there if you’re not comfortable. So definitely approach CALM. And my DM’s are also always open to people. It’s difficult to try and keep on top of it a lot of the time, but if I can help anybody, having personally been through it myself and with the loss of Jamie, I will always be open ears.
Suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably's (CALM) Missed Birthdays installation is on display at Westfield White City London from the 9th - 11th September. For more information on the campaign and the CALM C.A.R.E. kit visit thecalmzone.