Nearly one in five adolescents have self-harmed before the age of 17, the Richmond Foundation said on Tuesday, as it announced a new mental health campaign aimed at young people.
The campaign - Let us find your way forward - urges young people to come forward and seek help for mental health issues and marks the foundation's 25-year anniversary.
It includes a new freephone service - 1770 - for people who need support, as well as billboard and other media featuring real people sharing their stories of starting the journey to recovery.
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Richmond CEO Stephania Dimech Sant said around 150,000 people in Malta would face mental health problems at some point in their lives, of whom 75% experienced their first symptoms before the age of 25.
However, research showed that the average person would wait four to 10 years to seek help, she said, due to a lack of awareness about support options as well as continuing stigma surrounding mental health issues.
"Mental health problems effect a person's day to day life, their relationships and their productivity," she said. "This is a sector that effects society as a whole and requires both an individual and a policy response."
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Ms Dimech Sant said the Richmond Foundation currently catered for 2,000 people a year through 11 residential and support services, including 100 residents at the Villa Chelsea rehabilitation home.
The foundation also offers professional support in people's homes as well as a brief intervention service which received 1,600 calls last year and which is being extended with a specific focus on young people, training programmes, employee assistance to 70 companies and other services.
Ms Dimech Sant also appealed to the authorities and the public for support, in terms of both funds and volunteers, to allow the foundation to continue offering its services for free.
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President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca praised the work of the Richmond Foundation over the last 25 years and expressed her hope that it could do even more in years to come.
"Although we have made giant leaps forward, the stigma is still with us," she said. "There are still people who feel they cannot reach out for help."
Richmond Foundation also announced a rebranding, carried out by BRND WGN, based on challenging the perception of people with mental health problems as weak and presenting a way forward.
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