greatly, she argues. Locher says: “It’s a hotchpotch. We need a national strategy to provide support where it is needed throughout the country.” UNICEF funds a programme where towns can earn the label “child friendly”. Although not specifically related to mental health, accessible public living space for children does help with prevention. What’s left? The question remains as to whether youth participation can make a difference with this burning issue for the young. There is no doubt in Arya Kaya’s mind. Many interested politicians attended the closing conference of “Zukunftsrat U24”, and she has since received several personal invitations to symposiums. For example, she spoke at a big event in front of 600 experts. “We haven’t worked for nothing,” she emphasised. Today, she sees herself as a game-changer, in so far as she disseminates the recommendations for action by the “Zukunftsrat” in her network, which is perceptibly growing. The young woman now speaks excellent German, and has joined forces with 29 other motivated “Zukunftsrat” members to franchised in Switzerland. Arya Kaya, a 24-year-old Kurd, joined the conference in 2023 and is enthusiastic about it: “I had fled from Türkiye to Switzerland, I was alone, without a social network. And then I, a foreigner, was given the chance to have my say.” Over 30 proposals were discussed at three weekend workshops and finally 18 recommendations formulated for Swiss political action. The creation of a legal basis was requested, allowing the Confederation to act in a coordinated way at a national level with regard to the mental health of young people, including monitoring and a focus on prevention. The demands of the “Zukunftsrat” mirror those of UNICEF to a large extent. Hannah Locher believes that the problem is not solely a lack of experts, but mainly structural deficits: there hasn’t been enough work on promoting the training of child and adolescent psychiatrists, provision does not take adequate account of requirements and prevention is seriously underfinanced. Locher praises the “many engaged, low threshold offers for example from schools, sports associations, youth work or the psychological support in communities”. However, the cantonal differences vary form “Zentrum Zukunftsrat U24” (“Centre for council of the future U24”) and started studying psychology at the University of Zurich. At the same time, not all young people in Switzerland have the interest or even the strength to involve themselves in politics. They need easily accessed offers from the young for the young. An example of that is the ZETA Movement made up of people who have suffered with their mental health. Its current ambassadors define their aim as follows: “According to our vision, Generation Z should be the last generation to suffer from stigmatisation, silence and discrimination regarding their mental health, but the first generation to act as a catalyst for change and prompt a paradigm shift in people’s approach to the issue.” Links to further information: Online platform engage.ch: www.engage.ch Zurich procedural requests for youth: www.engage.ch/euses-zueri Jugendpolittag Solothurn: www.engage.ch/jugendpolittag Zukunftsrat U24: www.zukunfts-rat.ch Study UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein (2021): www.revue.link/unicefen UNICEF survey on mental health (worldwide, in English): www.revue.link/unicef Stress study Pro Juventute: www.revue.link/stress JULIA KNEUBÜHLER Supports young people who want to become involved in politics. She is responsible for the youth conferences organised on behalf of the city of Zurich. Photo provided FIONA MARAN Is managing the engage.ch campaign for the Umbrella Association of Swiss Youth Parliaments. She says that the fact that young people are playing an active part in politics is a success in itself. Photo provided Swiss Review / July 2025 / No.3 7
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