Claudia Collins

Claudia Collins is a 16 year old British campaigner on the impact of social media on teenage mental health. During the pandemic, through her personal experience, she became increasingly aware of harmful content being recommended to young people online. She decided to spread awareness and share her fears of the impact this was having on their mental health by writing articles for national media.

Through her advocacy, Claudia earned a place on Amnesty International’s Children’s Human Rights Network, the youngest person ever to be appointed. She has chaired its subgroup on mental health provision since 2022 and helped organise Amnesty’s ‘Freedom of Expression’ youth conference, leading interactive workshops aiming to increase dialogue on children’s mental health online. She has continued to spread awareness through speaking at conferences for audiences of adults and young people alike.

Claudia went on to present a BBC documentary examining the algorithms behind harmful content and has advocated on various TV and radio programmes for change in the law to protect young people.

Beyond campaigning on online safety, Claudia has written on how we can change education to help girls stay in school, winning a global competition organised by the Financial Times and Restless Development for young voices addressing issues that matter to them.

One action you’d like people to do to help your work

“I believe the best way to improve mental health is to talk about it. Poor mental health is too often a silent struggle and is treated as a taboo topic in homes. We need to start to have more open and honest conversations from a young age, so we can deepen our understanding of mental health and in particular the impact that social media has upon it. I want to encourage more people to feel they can speak about their experiences so that mental health can be something discussed openly and without fear.”

Follow Claudia on LinkedIn.