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It Gets Better Project
It Gets Better is an Internet-based 5013 nonprofit founded in the United States by gay activist, author, media pundit, and journalist Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller on September 21, 2010, in response to the suicides of teenagers who were bullied because they were gay or because their peers suspected that they were gay

Hello, thanks very much for your questions.

We do alot of workshops and training sessions with young people and find that the most common misconceptions around mental health and suicide are:
- People with mental health problems are violent - in fact people with mental health are more likely to be attacked than hurt anyone else
- Self-harm is all about attention seeking. This is a myth - there are many different reasons why people self-harm, but mostly it is a coping strategy
- Asking someone directly about suicide will 'put the idea into their head' - there is no evidence that talking openly about suicide will prompt someone to kill themselves. In fact, it's quite the opposite - it can be a huge relief to talk openly about how suicidal feelings.

It's important to realise that the term 'mental health' is not a negative term. We all have mental health - just like we all have physical health. We all go through ups and downs in life, and for at least one in four of us, the 'down' times will lead to a diagnosable mental health condition, most commonly depression and anxiety.

We think it's really important to teach this in schools and encourage young people to look after their mental wellbeing, in the same way as they would look after their physical health. Managing stress is an important part of building resilience. Check out our Stress LESS campaign for ideas under the campaign section: www.cpslmind.org.uk

The launch of our STOP Suicide campaign has been a huge achievement for us but we're aware that we still have still got a long way to go. Please sign our STOP Suicide Pledge at: www.stopsuicidepledge.org

Thank you for your support!