On February 9, Soraya Rodriguez presented the premiere screening of the film “The Son” with Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner of Health, and Think Film Impact, the film production company that organized the event.
“The Son” is a film co-starring Hugh Jackman and Nicholas Miller, which addresses the issue of depression and suicide in adolescence.
During the opening of the event, Soraya Rodríguez referred to the stigma that still falls on mental health problems, and the need to get rid of it so that, especially young people, they can talk about their concerns without fear of rejection or of not finding adequate support.
She also spoke of the Parliamentary Coalition on Mental Health and Well-being, which she integrates together with other MEPs from different political groups, and whose objective is to work together to make mental health the focus of European policies.
Soraya Rodríguez stressed the need to adopt as soon as possible a European Mental Health Strategy, which ensures the implementation of a robust, accessible and adequate mental health services infrastructure: “one in seven young people aged 10 to 19 suffers from mental health problems. This accounts for 13 % of the global disease burden in this age group, and adds to the heartbreaking fact that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death between the ages of 15 and 29.”
The MEP concluded the presentation by sending a hopeful message to young people “from the European Parliament we will continue to work daily so that there is no teenager who feels that they do not have tools to ask for help. There is no health without mental health.”
