Mason Taylor’s family still grieves after losing him to suicide as new report reveals kids’ school stress

Popular surfer Mason Taylor was 20 when he took his own life. His family are now speaking out, as an alarming new report reveals what teens are really facing.

Mason Taylor was a popular young surfer with a promising future studying to be an electrician.

But behind his beautiful smile lay a struggle that even three years after taking his own life, his family is still grappling with his enormous loss.

The emotion is still raw for his youngest sister Montana, who says there is never a moment she doesn’t grieve the loss of a “happy and fun person” who died aged just 20.

“Mason was outgoing and really talented. I never really saw him struggle … he brought light into every room he walked into,” the 19-year-old, from Sydney’s south, said.

“But he was good at hiding his battles. We were close and I really thought I would have seen it. I wish he had something that could affirm how great he was.

“I miss him. I love him. But in a strange way, it has given me a stronger purpose.”

Mason Taylor died by suicide at the age of 20. Picture: Supplied

Ms Taylor is speaking out for the first time after a new report found two thirds of young people were highly stressed about school work.

Alarmingly, the nearly 10,000 students surveyed said they recognised causes of stress or worry, yet only three per cent sought help from teachers and a third did not talk to anyone when they were struggling.

The MyStrengths Youth Wellbeing 2021 report, released on Friday, surveyed students aged between 11 and 18 across public, independent and Catholic schools in NSW.

It looked at how stress, sleep, social media, and relationships impacted the mental health of young people.

Teens who did reach out to others about their problems were more likely to contact a friend (45 per cent) than a parent.

“So many students have been given negative labels like ‘slow,’ ‘a nerd,’ ‘bossy,’ ‘too loud,’ ‘too quiet,’ ‘crazy,’ or perhaps even ‘weird’,” founder of MyStrengths Australia and teen counsellor Dan Hardie said.

“Those labels are like a lens through which they view themselves and our natural negativity bias tends to make them stick.”
Other sources of stress included low self-esteem (35 per cent) and family difficulties (27 per cent), while nearly 40 per cent of teens were worried about their future and 34 per cent concerned about the way they looked.

Pictured: Mason with sisters Montana (left) and Maddison. Picture: Supplied

Ms Taylor, who now studies psychology at university, said while there was greater awareness around mental health, not many people sought help immediately.

“We all know about anxiety and depression and are always talking about it but it doesn’t seem to make us better at facing or overcoming it,” Ms Taylor said.

“We have new tools to distract these struggles rather than address them and some of these tools can just amplify those insecurities if we don’t use them for the right reasons, like social media.”

October marks the start of mental health month and Mr Hardie is releasing a national course for both parents and their children to “turn the tide on teen mental health”.

“It became clear to us that most teenagers know their weaknesses but very few know their strengths,” he said.

You can find more information on the course at My Strengths Parenting

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Originally published as Mason Taylor’s family still grieves after losing him to suicide as new report reveals kids’ school stress