Fourteen-year-old Aakeeshen is a softly spoken slip of a boy, but his words carry a punch. “Sometimes uncontrollable thoughts come into my head that I can’t do anything about,” he says. “I can’t concentrate so I put my head down on the desk, but occasionally I start shouting and the teacher sends me out or gives me a detention for disengaging from lessons or for disruption.”
As Aakeeshen talks, he stares at his feet and you can barely see his face beneath his long fringe. “There are days I don’t get to school on time because I haven’t had much sleep,” he continues. He puts it down to “difficulties at home”. He averts eye contact, the weight of the world on his slight shoulders.
