Your Voice, Your Vote: Mental health crisis in young people

“This generation is the first that is using social media in unbelievable ways and with unbelievable dependency on it,” she added.

“They’ve got all the other stresses of life, they had a difficult teenage period with Covid and there are significantly more mental health issues to come.

“No-one’s talking about it. It’s a much wider problem than anyone acknowledges.”

Naomi Woodford, a mental health support worker at Cedars Upper School, in Leighton Buzzard, which Amelia attended, was among many people who have contacted the BBC via Your Voice, Your Vote to tell us mental health is the most important issue for them during this election.

Ms Woodford works with children and teenagers, some of whom have been affected by the death of Amelia, and believes every school, college and university in the UK should have its own mental health provision.

She described the situation as a “national crisis”, and expressed concern that out of 14 schools in the Leighton Buzzard, only two or three have the resources to offer pupils mental health support.

According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2021 more people in England and Wales died by suicide than in 2020.

The data showed 6.9% more deaths by suicide were registered than in 2020.