My name is Julie and I'm 57 this week. I live in Twickenham and I have a son who has just graduated from university and is currently in Italy doing a bit of writing – embarking on a burgeoning journalistic career – perhaps!
The first time I had my own copy of the Guardian was when my dad handed me one just as I was getting on to the train to Hull at King's Cross station in October 1977 for my first year at the University of Hull.
I was the first of my family to go to university and the first of my dad's children to leave home (and that's not counting the disastrous few months I spent as a nanny in Alabama following my A-levels the previous year).
Both my dad and I still read the Guardian and often discuss what's inside, and occasionally I am enlisted to help with the last elusive clue in the crossword. I am a big fan of the Society section and would like more time to read it properly.
I teach young people with mental health issues, which I find very rewarding but at times quite sad. Today more people seem to be aware of mental health and are a little bit more able to talk about it, but there is still a long way to go. What I have noticed is that young people are troubled in many different ways and this can manifest itself in acute episodes of stress brought on by exams, bullying, families and other things. We try to help young people build resilience to this kind of stress.
A lot of people are fearful of being seen to have mental health issues and many suffer in silence.
