by Jill Walsh

Former Parents Helpline Advisor, Jill Walsh introduces the YoungMinds Parents Helpline, a vital service supporting parents and carers who are concerned about their child’s wellbeing and mental health. Jill wants to ensure that all parents and carers from a Muslim background know about the service, and feel confident to pick up the phone, or log on to a webchat, if they need advice.

Supporting a child or young person who is struggling with their wellbeing or mental health can be a tough and lonely experience. It can be difficult to know who to listen to or where to get advice. Adolescence represents one of the critical junctures shaping outcomes. As it is during this period, young people are particularly sensitive to environmental influences and undergo significant physical, emotional, social and cognitive development.

Figures taken from the NHS Mental Health Survey (2025)  estimated 1 in 4 young people aged 8-16 have a probable mental health problem. It is slightly higher for those aged between 17-25 years with young women found to be disproportionally affected compared to young men[1].  In a survey conducted in 2023 by the Morgan Stanley Children’s Mental Health Alliance, found that 68% of parents were concerned about their child’s mental health in the previous two years.

Given the growing need for supporting parents and carers in navigating the key transitional periods, the YoungMinds Parents Helpline was established. This Helpline provides support to any parent or carer who is worried about their child and needs emotional support and advice. With over 20 years of experience, the YoungMinds Parents Helpline has been providing free, confidential advice and support to parents and carers to ensure healthy outcomes for their child. The service is available to any families who live in the UK and can offer free translation services across all of our channels in over 200 languages.

It is a complex time to be a young person. The young people we work with through our programmes and research groups tell us about experiencing a variety of different pressures, which accumulate in ways unique to this generation and led to our ‘million pressures campaign’ and petition to the government to invest in more support for young people.

YoungMinds teamed up with Muslim Youth Helpline to run insight sessions with young Muslims. They told us about the cultural values and beliefs that shape how they see the world and their mental health. 

Over the years the service has changed and developed becoming more faith and culturally sensitive. There is increased awareness and understanding about the issues young people and parents from Muslim backgrounds experience. For example, callers from a Muslim background may talk about their child’s anxiety, or difficult emotions, but have also expressed guilt for seeking help and stigma faced from within the community for having a child who is struggling.

YoungMinds teamed up with Muslim Youth Helpline to run insight sessions with young Muslims. They told us about the cultural values and beliefs that shape how they see the world and their mental health. For many, faith and a connection with Allah are a big source of strength. But, we also heard about the guilt some young Muslims can feel when they experience poor mental health. You can find the resources that we co-created with young Muslims here.

There is increased awareness and understanding about the issues young people and parents from Muslim backgrounds experience.

We recently supported a Muslim mother who contacted the Helpline for advice on how she can help her 14-year-old daughter who had become quiet and withdrawn. She disclosed that her daughter had confided to a sibling that she was feeling low and was thinking about self-harm. When the parent spoke to our Helpline Advisor, she felt at ease and was able to open up about what had been happening in the family home. There had been a family bereavement, and other worries that were impacting her daughter. The Advisor was able to help the parent find some positives in the situation: daughter was confiding in her sibling and had come up with a three-point plan to guide the next steps, which contributed to the parent feeling less worried and more in control of how to best support her daughter.  The Advisor was also able to provide some faith specific signposts that the parent hadn’t been aware of.

On the Parents Helpline we know that it can be hard for parents and carers to reach out and ask for help or support. We are there for you. Our advisors are sympathetic and easy to talk to.

Parents and carers can contact us by phone or webchat and be confident that our resources serve to empower and support.  Last year, we supported 15,000 families and are expecting to support more this year.

If you are concerned about the wellbeing or mental health of your child, teenager or young adult (up to the age of 25) call the YoungMinds Parents Helpline on 0808 802 5544.

We are available from Monday to Friday between 9.30am  and 4pm.

To use our webchat or find out more about the service search our website here.