67% of South Asian Young People Don’t Feel Understood by Mental Health Services – New Survey Reveals
A new survey conducted by Changing Suits’ Young People Leadership Board has revealed concerning insights into the mental health experiences of young people in Swindon, particularly within South Asian communities. The 2026 Young People’s Mental Health Impact Survey findings paint a clear picture: young people are struggling with stress, stigma, and silence – and many do not feel current mental health services understand their lived experiences.
The survey, conducted with 89 young people across local schools and community spaces, found that 75% of respondents aged 11–16 experience stress “often”, “most of the time”, or “always”.
Only 11% said they rarely feel stressed, while just one young person reported never feeling stressed at all.
These figures reflect a growing mental health crisis among young people. But the findings also reveal something deeper: the barriers preventing many young people from accessing support are not simply personal – they are cultural, relational, and systemic.
The Mental Health Crisis Young People Are Describing
The survey findings show that high levels of stress have become normalised for many young people. Three in four respondents reported experiencing stress regularly, highlighting the increasing pressure many young people face both inside and outside of school.
While mental health challenges affect young people across all communities, the report found that young people from South Asian and other ethnically diverse backgrounds often experience additional barriers linked to culture, stigma, and family expectations.
One of the most concerning findings was the emotional isolation many young people described. More than half of respondents (54%) said they felt uncomfortable talking to family members about their feelings.
Why South Asian Young People Don’t Seek Help
The findings suggest that the challenge is not that young people do not want support, it’s that many do not feel emotionally safe to ask for it.
More than half of all respondents (56%) identified fear of judgement as the biggest barrier preventing them from seeking help. Young people also reported concerns around embarrassment, family expectations, and not being understood.
Among Asian and South Asian respondents, 60% reported feeling uncomfortable speaking to family about their emotions, compared with 35% of White British and Irish respondents.
Fear of embarrassment when seeking help was also significantly higher among ethnically diverse young people.
The survey also found that family expectations were identified as a barrier by 29% of Asian and South Asian respondents, compared with just 5% of White British and Irish respondents.
These findings demonstrate that mental health stigma is not experienced equally across communities. While stigma can affect anyone, young people from ethnically diverse backgrounds are often navigating additional cultural pressures that can make help-seeking even more difficult.
The Cultural Competency Gap in Mental Health Services
One of the strongest findings in the report was the lack of trust and connection many young people feel towards existing mental health services.
A significant 67% of Asian and South Asian respondents said they do not feel fully understood by mental health services. By comparison, only 15% of White British and Irish respondents reported the same feeling.
This five-fold gap highlights a serious cultural competency issue within existing systems.
Young people repeatedly described wanting support that understands their background, experiences, and identity. Alongside concerns around judgement and stigma, many respondents also identified lack of representation within services as a barrier to seeking help.
The findings reinforce an important message: culturally competent support is not simply a “nice to have”. For many young people, it is essential to whether they engage with support at all.
When young people do not see themselves reflected in services — whether through language, culture, lived experience, or understanding — they are far less likely to trust those services early.
What Young People Actually Want
The survey also asked young people what kind of support would help them most. Their responses were clear and consistent.
Nearly half of respondents (48%) said they wanted safe spaces to talk, while 30% said peer support groups would help them most.
Mentoring and culturally aware counselling were also identified as important forms of support.
One respondent summarised this simply:
“Just people who get me more.”
This highlights the importance of trust, representation, and community-rooted support. Young people are not asking for more services in general. They are asking for support that feels safe, relatable, and culturally aware.
Community-rooted organisations like Changing Suits play an important role in bridging this gap. As a trusted, multilingual organisation embedded within Swindon’s diverse communities, Changing Suits is able to create spaces where young people feel psychologically safe, heard, and understood.
Why Culturally Competent Support Matters
Without culturally competent early intervention, there is a risk that young people disengage from support until their needs escalate into crisis. This not only impacts young people and families directly, but also places greater pressure on already stretched statutory services.
Mental health support cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach. If services are serious about improving outcomes for young people from South Asian and other ethnically diverse backgrounds, cultural competence must move from being an optional consideration to a core part of service delivery.
The findings from this survey make one thing clear: young people are asking for support, but they want support delivered differently. They want safe spaces, relatable mentors, culturally aware services, and trusted adults who understand the pressures they navigate both inside and outside the home.
Young people have already told us what they need. The challenge now is whether services are willing to listen.
Read the full report HERE to find out more.
How Can Changing Suits Help?
Changing suits offer a vast range of services that can help you become more culturally confident whilst building trust with ethnic communities. Here are the ways we can help you.
- Engagement events with ethnically diverse communities
- Research and data collection service from communities
- Inclusive data strategy
- Staff training
- Data analysis
- Service re-design
- Policy and compliance advisory
To find out more about how best to collect language data and engage minority communities get in touch with us HERE