“The crisis makes us more alone” – new youth-led research shows young people’s access to emotional support significantly impacted by the cost-of-living crisis

Young people are experiencing increased pressure to provide for their immediate family and support others with their wellbeing, while facing their own stress and barriers to support.

This finding is from a new youth-led report from Toynbee Hall called “The crisis makes us more alone”: a participatory action research investigation into emotional support for young people in the context of the cost-of-living crisis.

The research’s key findings included that:

• 54% of young people experienced more stress within their immediate family in the last year
• Parents/guardians directly linked low and sporadic income to difficulties in giving emotional support to young people
• Overcrowded housing significantly impacts young people’s and families’ ability to engage in emotionally supportive activities and maintain strong family bonds

Almost three quarters (73%) of young people said they had experienced two or more points of pressure in the past year (such as increased pressure to provide for the immediate family or support others with their emotional wellbeing), with nearly half (47%) experiencing a decline in their mental wellbeing.

One young person said: “It’s kind of a life and death situation. If you don’t have a job, you’re gonna starve to death. […] The way it’s kind of affected my relationships is because I’m in a low mood or a bad mood, or kind of angry outbursts. It’s like my relationships are less strong with my siblings, my grandma – it’s because I’m in a bad mood. Angry as well, like if my little siblings do something naughty, I’m quick to get angry, I’ll start shouting quite quickly. It’s like you don’t have any joy in life.”

A parent said: “If he shares his problems with me, I could help to solve them. But he feels like he doesn’t want to burden me with all the other work that I do.”

Toynbee Hall set up the project in 2023 with Tower Hamlets Council, the Greater London Authority (GLA), Thrive LDN, and funding from the Health Foundation, in the wake of a significant surge in UK households facing severe financial challenges.

Toynbee Hall is committed to ensuring that its research is led by the people affected by an issue. The team worked with 12 young peer researchers from low-income households in Tower Hamlets who shaped the questions, interviewed participants and analysed the findings.

Rebecca Sycamore, CEO of Toynbee Hall, said: “The young people leading this research uncovered significant and detailed evidence that the cost-of-living crisis has created a complex web of challenges to accessing emotional support.

“Overcrowded housing, strained social support networks, limited and inaccessible services, and family financial stress all interact, worsening the impact of each factor. For young people, the harm is greater than the sum of its parts.

“Based on these alarming findings, our peer researchers designed recommendations aimed at addressing national-level, systemic issues and highlighting the role of local government and community organisations in mitigating the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on emotional support mechanisms.

“It is vital that national and local policymakers hear the young people’s message, or we risk long-term consequences for this generation.”

Contact Katie Taylor, Head of Communities and Social Change at Toynbee Hall.

About the research

A group of 12 peer researchers from low-income families in Tower Hamlets identified key issues, designed question guides, and conducted interviews and workshops with 44 young people and 25 parents/guardians of young people in that age group.

Read a blog from Mehjabin about her peer researcher experience.

Over 90% of participants were from an ethnic minority background, and 38% of young people and 52% of parents/guardians are disabled. Additionally, the peer researchers co-designed a survey which was conducted on a geographically representative sample of 1,515 English and Wales residents aged 16-22, with an increased ethnic minority unweighted sample of 768 respondents.

Key recommendations

National government:

• Increase family incomes: tackle financial insecurity by strengthening social security and addressing low wages to reduce the pressures on families and improve young people’s wellbeing.
• Improve mental health support for young people: address the lack of services and ensure they are appropriate for those aged 16+, culturally appropriate and transition from a crisis-focused to a proactive approach including improving pastoral care in schools.

Local government:

• Support emotional support services and networks: provide spaces for free or low-cost social gatherings and ensure proper signposting.
• Remove conditions that put strain on families: address overcrowded housing that limits space for family activities at home.
• Increase family incomes: improve employment services and adult education provision, ensuring that they are sufficiently promoted.

Community organisations:

• Foster connections: provide activities such as skills, knowledge and hobby exchanges that lay the groundwork for future conversations on emotional wellbeing focusing on novel settings, comfortable and well-equipped spaces, provision of vouchers and training, intergenerational understanding, face-to-face interactions, long-term access, spaces for those with similar lived experience.
• Promote a safe approach: ensure safeguarding and healthy boundaries policies are in place before addressing complex emotional wellbeing issues.

During the action phase, peer researchers and staff presented recommendations to a range of policymakers and stakeholders including among others: London Region Mental Health Teams Community of Practice (Department of Education); London Borough of Tower Hamlets Public Health Team; Tower Hamlets Trauma-Informed Community of Practice and teams at Queen Mary University.

Toynbee Hall was able to begin the process of implementing recommendations aimed at community organisations through co-designing and delivering a community wellbeing programme responding directly to the mental health support needs of local young people.