READ: Perspectives on Mental Health

Perspectives is a three-part series co-created with giffgaff, exploring the most important issues affecting young people today. We meet the individuals on the frontline and weigh up some of the self-made solutions they've adopted to deal these challenges.

In the second episode we looked at how young people are dealing with an epidemic of mental health issues. Can self-medicating through sport and music projects be a viable solution to calm a troubled mind?

Alika Ayidi-Jeffs is a musician who was sectioned in 2013 and diagnosed with Type 1 bipolar disorder. Through the Raw Materials initiative in Brixton, which teaches creative skills like music and film production to disadvantaged young people and those with mental or physical challenges, we see how he's been able to stabilise his life by pursuing his interest in rapping, meeting like-minded people along the way. We also meet Ashley Lane, a Liverpudlian who dealt with his own mental health issues by taking up boxing. We see how his local club and boxing competitions "give him the confidence" to stand up straight and "build relationships" with other people from similar circumstances. For Faris Khalifa, who suffers from depressions, anxiety and PTSD, it was opening up and actually talking about the issues he was facing that really helped him - but taking that experience and helping others cope has eased his suffering more than anything.

That relief from their mental health problems found through socialising and working with others is a common thread between everyone in Perspectives, but there are so many more stories left to tell. The internet, in particular, is playing an important role in the way lots of young people today are expressing and organising around mental health issues.

If you have no one to talk to in the real world, or no recourse for effective therapy, then the online realm can provide a secure, often anonymous, alternative. Of course, the internet comes with its drawbacks. While online anonymity can encourage people to talk, it also does little to rid these issues of the stigmas that have burdened them for decades: when you can't put a face to a problem, it seems altogether less serious.

In an effort to discuss mental health issues in an open and productive manner, many are seeking out alternative support systems that can help those who have nowhere to turn or supplement the medical treatment others may be receiving in a way that is more informal – maybe even fun.

Jess Spires, a 26-year-old editor from London, started a support group called Let's Get Mental (LGM) after being diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and depression in 2011. She was on medication and going through therapy, but felt she needed something else. "I wanted to look for a support group in my local area, and there was nothing really around. So I thought maybe I'd start something myself. I thought about how I could make it a bit less like a clichéd idea of a support group: people sitting around, being awkward and not really wanting to talk." Her solution? To do it in her local pub.

Jess turned to Facebook to gauge interest in the group. However, sharing a status announcing LGM came with its own challenges. It would be the first time she'd spoken about her struggles with mental health to anyone other than her close friends and family. "It was pretty scary," Jess told me over the phone. "I've been on Facebook for about eight years. All those people you added at uni, or at a party, they don't really have an idea of who you really are – 'Like hey guys I've had this going on for the past year and I'm gonna start a group if anyone wants to come and chat about it.'"

Despite her initial reservations the response was hugely positive. "I was pretty surprised by how many people got in touch, people I've never really spoken to, who were like, 'Hey I've had similar stuff going on and I'd really like to come.'" Her online call to action also lent the whole process an informal tone, which was exactly what she was after – even if the first few meet-ups felt a bit uneasy. "When we first started I tried a bit too hard to make it structured. I would think of questions to base it around, and iId be the one asking people, 'How do you deal with this?'" But after a while she realised what worked. "The part people enjoyed most was when we just hung out or went for a drink. The idea of the group changed a little bit then. It wasn't as focused on having a discussion – it was more about making friends. If you wanted to talk to those people about mental health, you could, because the pretence that exists when you meet someone new is no longer there. You know that you're all there for the same reason."

While support groups can provide a calm environment in which to discuss one's problems, they are rarely an immediate relief for anyone who suddenly feels overwhelmed. As a result, alternative physical remedies like yoga, acupuncture and aromatherapy are increasingly popular. The mental health charity Mind even lists them on their website, although with an important caveat: "We cannot endorse any of these therapies, but we know that many people who have mental health problems consider trying them and would like to know more about them." One of these people is Josh. As the director of a large digital media company, Josh told me that he manages to deal with the stresses of his high-pressure job using something called an Alpha Stim. The device uses Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation to ease the effects of anxiety. You simply clip an electrode to each earlobe and a small waveform passes through you. The whole thing sounds somewhat bizarre but Josh swears by it: "after about a month of broken sleep and feverish work dreams, I decided to give it a go. Seriously, I slept like a baby that night and came into work the next day completely focused and not stressed in the slightest."

No one would fault a person for not wanting to give the Alpha Stim a go. Just as few would criticise someone for not feeling brave enough to attend a group like Let's Go Mental. So is there another option?

Mental health has been a "relentless theme" in Sienna Murdoch's life. After starting a business she soon realised she was essentially looking after people despite not being well herself. "But because it had been such a theme i had this confidence to be jokey and facetious about it. That started a dialogue of me talking to people about it in this kind of chilled way. I realised it was probably the right time to put something online that I could share with people I'd been speaking to."

The result was sadface.club, a forum-cum-guide for anyone who needs information or support about mental health issues. While it exists in an online capacity, it encourages members to not be anonymous – it's a sort of mid-point between an IRL support group and alternative therapies that may be too extreme for some.

I ask Sienna how the sadface works. "It's this community of people who have come forward to talk about their own story in their own words. And those kind of ailments range from everyday neuroses to hearing voices. From reading those [stories] you see that there are a lot of contradictions and there's a lot of…you know, there's no one way to be depressed, and there's no one way to grieve. We learn from each other."

And why was it important for members to not be anonymous? "I felt like that was the next main step forward. If you read about mental health online or in the newspaper it's usually with a stock picture of someone anonymous looking out of a dirty window, you know? It just felt like we had to rebrand that dialogue, and not have the whole tissue clutching, sobbing thing, but actually, 'Here's a picture of me that I use as my profile on Facebook. It's the same me.' It's nothing to be ashamed of."

Sadface also collates the coping mechanisms favoured by various members, meaning visitors can find methods that could help them deal with a crisis. There's everything from breathing exercises to clips of Bob Ross painting, as well as the numbers of charities like the Samaritans.

Both Let's Get Mental and Sadface represent a shift in attitudes toward mental health. Jess reckons this is partly down to the internet, and the fact people often find it easier to open up online. While this is no doubt a good thing, the internet is not the real world. "I've been using the internet to talk to people since my teenage years, and I kind of wanted to get away from that. I wanted to get to the stage of being able to talk about it in person, because it's something that our generation isn't very good at. I think that's why I felt the group needed to exist, because there's something different about saying something on Twitter than actually reaching out to someone and meeting for a cup of tea and a chat."

Sienna agrees but added that there may be a larger cultural shift at play: "We're just talking about it so much more than we ever did. That's amazing. I find it really interesting, because I don't know where this comes from… is it because Zayn is coming out and talking about his mental health, or is it because we have more triggers than ever, with Instagram and social media?"

Whatever the case, people are taking mental health seriously. They're finding alternative ways to deal with it that are often informal and accessible to those who may be otherwise intimidated. So what does the future hold? For Sienna, the next goal is a physical space for Sadface: "I've done a five-year plan, and at the end of it is a physical space, somewhat like a mental health A&E."

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Watch the rest of the Perspectives series here