Interview With A Young Member of the Public About Well-Being

I held an interview with a young person on what they think healthy well-being is. A definition of well-being is the state of being healthy, comfortable and/or happy. This piece is an account of the interview that took place on their collated thoughts for contributions to avoiding deterioration of mental health. The young person, due to confidentiality will not be identified. For this account, we shall name the young person as Alex.

Jocelyn: Hello, and welcome Alex. Thank you for taking the time to come down to the local coffee shop today to answer the questions I have for you regarding well-being. I hope you are ok with me documenting your answers.

Alex: Yeah, sure no problem!

Jocelyn: First of all, what is your understanding of well-being?

Alex: Someone’s health and living.

Jocelyn: What do you mean by living?

Alex: Umm, the way they live, what they do from day to day – how they manage things.

Jocelyn: Ok good. Have you ever heard of the words well-being before?

Alex: Yes

Jocelyn: What do you think contributes to having or obtaining a life with good wellbeing?

Alex: A positive mindset, eating healthy because that helps a lot. If you eat a lot of junk food it will affect the way you think. It will make you sluggish. It is all about balance.

Jocelyn: What about exercise?

Alex: Yes. I exercise daily. Also, if you are the type of person that has a lot of stress on your mind it helps relieve stress: You will feel at ease.

Jocelyn:

So what would you think are the main causes for the deterioration of young people’s mental health?

Alex: Lack of confidence – confidence goes a long way.

Jocelyn: Would you care to explain?

Alex: Through your day to day life, you are dealing with people on a constant basis so you have to be confident to put your point across. People let others get to them sometimes. People

care about what others think of them and that will contribute to the lack of confidence.

Jocelyn: It is maintaining a good people relationship then?

Alex: Yeah. Your brain is your temple. You should be in control of what you think and how you think. That is my personal thought.

Jocelyn: What do you think will help to get young people’s confidence up?

Alex: OOo. That is a sticky one.

Jocelyn: Would you say people share different experiences?

Alex: Yeah. People have and live in different environments to I cannot comment on what they should be doing to get their confidence back. I think they somehow need to find something they love doing (something good) and stick to it, regardless of what people say, because people will talk anyways. So I would say finding a way have a healthy outlet and trying to find out things that work for you and things that don’t. So like, know yourself too.

Jocelyn: Last but not least, how old are you Alex?

Alex: I am 20 years old.

Jocelyn: Thank you Alex for your thoughts.