Madness and mental illness among young people across Britain is skyrocketing. One in three people aged 18–24 are now reporting symptoms of anxiety or depression.  

This nationwide crisis isn’t individual or accidental. For years a coalition of unaccountable corporations acting in their own self-interest - from big tech to big oil - have pursued business strategies that have maximised both profits and misery.

On top of this, years of underfunding and privatisation have stripped NHS mental health services to the bone, leaving over a quarter of a million young people languishing on waiting lists whilst private health providers rake in the cash. 

And at this moment the Labour government is attacking young mad people - stripping away benefits like PIP which provide a lifeline for essential things like medications, therapy and accessible travel. Our government would rather inflict deadly cuts on vulnerable communities than tax corporations and the rich.

This toxic, broken system is costing lives: it’s time to dismantle and rebuild it.

We are mad youth - young people with lived experience of mental distress and madness - and we are organising to build a collective response to the crisis we are facing.

We have a plan to expose and challenge the corporate drivers of mental illness, and to demand timely and quality care for ourselves and for all other patients across Britain.

But this strategy will only work if enough of us step up to make it happen. Read on to find out more about the plan, and how you can get involved!

Taking on corporations and the politicians that protect their profits is a huge task. But if we follow a smart strategy - we can do it. Here’s what we know: 

1. We know there is a growing understanding that mental illness is driven by socio-economic factors. For far too long, mental illness has been seen as an individual problem which requires only medical solutions. But in recent years, academics, campaigners, journalists and grassroots groups have begun connecting the dots between mental illness and structural conditions - from poverty and precarity to tech-fuelled social pressures and climate breakdown. We can use this growing consensus as a springboard to challenge corporations and demand policy change.

2. We know that human stories are one of the most powerful tools for grabbing headlines. We’ve seen time and again that when decision-makers come face-to-face with the powerful stories of those impacted by their policies, it can go viral online and become a headline news story that reaches millions and sets the political agenda. This campaign will bring politicians and corporate executives face-to-face with young people with lived experience of mental illness, to highlight how current policies and practices are failing patients and costing lives.

3. We know that the government’s disability cuts hurt millions. Over 4 million people receive a Personal Independence Payment (PIP). These payments enable disabled and mentally ill people to pay for vital things: accessible travel, medications or personal support. Things that should be provided for free and enable people to live fuller and happier lives. When the government attacks people on disability benefits, it attacks all of us. Everyone has a relative, friend, neighbour or colleague who receives disability payments. If we come together we can stop these cuts.

4. We know the government’s attacks on young mad people give us an opportunity to talk about the real causes of the mental health crisis. The government is scapegoating young, mad people to justify their brutal cuts. Health Secretary Wes Streeting claimed many of us are “over diagnosed”. This ignorant attack furthers the shame many of us experience in an already ableist society. But it also gives us an opportunity to talk about the real reasons so many young people are unwell - the corporations who are making our lives harder while profiting off our pain. We can shine a spotlight on the real reasons so many young people experience mental illness and provide a credible alternative to the cuts - taxing the corporate culprits for the harm they are causing.

These four facts make us powerful. They give us leverage. They make politicians and corporations vulnerable to pressure from people. Our job is to build that pressure and force them to act.

In light of these crucial facts, these are the tools and tactics that have the power to challenge corporations and force policy change:

• We will identify powerful stories and support patients to share them. We’ll work with a group of young people who have been seriously impacted by mental illness, a lack of access to appropriate care and the disability cuts and we will train them to speak confidently about their stories and demand solutions to the collective challenges they are facing.

• We will target political and corporate culprits with creative direct action and mass digital action. We’ll be relentless in exposing how the government’s disability cuts will kill young people like us. We’ll put the spotlight on the corporations fuelling and profiting from mental illness. We’ll do this by taking action against these policies and key corporations offline and online, in a way that amplifies young people’s stories and shows there is a genuine alternative to these cuts.

• We will use the press and social media to amplify our impact. By using video content and media channels we can amplify young people’s stories, spark debate and shift the public conversation around these cuts so that people recognise that mental illness is not an individual medical issue, but a structural one fuelled by corporations and the politicians who protect them.

• We will build allies in Parliament and intervene in legislative processes. We know there are many MPs within the Labour party who are horrified by what the leadership is doing. We will gain the backing of politicians from multiple parties and, as the disability cuts progress through Parliament, we will work with these allies to stop them. In addition we will use opportunities like the Mental Health Bill to build an alliance of politicians demanding a tax on the corporations causing the mental health crisis. 

That’s it. Our strategy will deliver headline-grabbing action by supporting young people with lived experience of mental illness to confront the politicians and corporations that are failing them. In doing so, we will shift public discourse and build pressure both inside and outside Parliament to stop these cuts and win policy change.

We have a strategy. We have a plan. But we can’t do everything at once, and we won’t win our demands overnight. So here’s how it’s going to go:

Phase 1: We launch, grow and build allies. First, we will focus on spreading the word about our new campaign, signing thousands of people up to get involved and reaching out to organisations, politicians and journalists interested in supporting. We will also recruit more leaders and skill up our existing ones. 

Phase 2: We work with allies to stop the cuts! We’ll collaborate with political allies to build resistance in Parliament to the disability cuts, and utilise the debate to spotlight the role of corporations in driving the mental health crisis. One key opportunity to do this is provided by the Mental Health Bill which is passing through parliament in 2025. We’ll push friendly MPs to speak out about the role of corporations in driving poor mental health as they debate this bill.

Phase 3: We support activists to take action across the country. We will generate campaign resources and infrastructure that will empower supporters across the country to take action - whether that’s through engaging with MPs,  taking local action against corporate targets or joining with allies like Crips against the Cuts for national mobilisations. 

Phase 4: We shine a spotlight on complicit corporations. We will use our expanded supporter base to ramp up creative direct action against the government and key corporate targets, coupled with mass digital actions that create a buzz online. This will expose and highlight how business practices are fuelling mental illness, and bolster our demand to stop the disability cuts.

Phase 5: We shift discourse and keep the pressure up! Throughout all this work, we will secure national media coverage and social media reach which shifts mainstream narratives on mental health, puts corporations under heightened scrutiny and forces politicians to engage with patients and reverse their cruel disability cuts. We will not stop organising until the cuts are stopped and corporations are held to account!