Dr Alex George, an A&E doctor and former Love Island contestant, has been appointed as the UK government's youth mental health ambassador. He aims to reframe mental health as a positive issue, moving beyond associations with depression and anxiety to include resilience, happiness, and courage.
George's advocacy intensified after his 19-year-old brother Llŷr died by suicide in July 2020. Llŷr had been offered a place at medical school but took his life without telling anyone. George believes his brother may have felt ashamed and wonders if asking for help could have saved him.
In his new unpaid role, George sits on the Mental Health in Education Action Group. He is pushing for ringfenced funding to ensure every school in England has a trained mental health lead by 2023, a pledge made by former Prime Minister Theresa May in 2018 that is currently only 25% on track.
George also wants emotional wellbeing lessons to be given equal status to maths and English in the curriculum, and faster provision of online counsellors for children. He is concerned about university students and whether they are receiving adequate support.
Balancing his ambassadorial duties with grief and the challenges of working in A&E during the pandemic, George acknowledges the emotional toll. He describes a 'strange normalisation of death' in his job, but his brother's death has given him a personal drive to improve mental health support for young people.
