British adventurer and television presenter Bear Grylls, known for his show ‘Man vs. Wild’, has advice for the UK education system.
He wants to improve the school system in the UK when it comes to helping students deal with mental health issues, Mirror.co.uk reports.
He believes that while things are improving, schools are still “woefully under-equipped” and failing to teach children a number of important life lessons. Speaking to The Mirror, Bear discussed how the state needs to keep getting better if it’s to help the last generation through what he called an anxiety pandemic.
“I think the UK school system is woefully under-equipped,” he said. “Nothing of this [mental health] It’s taught and I certainly wasn’t taught these things in school.”
The Mirror further stated that he said he believes one of the main reasons we’re seeing “staggeringly high” numbers of suicides in people in their 40s and 50s is because that generation simply wasn’t well-equipped from a younger age. And that is something he is determined to see change in today’s society.
“It wasn’t something that people talked about 20 or 30 years ago,” he admitted. “When you lack the tools and framework to understand the battles you’re going through, people often don’t know which way to turn.”
He added: “I think we’re starting to get a little better, but ultimately all of us in life have to be our own doctors.”
The former British Special Forces soldier continued: “We have to find things in our lives that help us to be physically strong, mentally strong and emotionally strong, and learn life skills; all these things that schools don’t teach people. In life, we have to be our own doctor.”
Bear, who is the father of three teenage sons, spoke ahead of the release of his new book titled ‘Mind Fuel’, which offers readers a series of daily strategies to build emotional health and resilience.
