A summit has tackled mental health issues in a bid to improve the lives of young people.

Students from Waltham Forest have written the borough's first charter to help break the stigma and better services for young people with depression, anxiety and other issues.

Doctors, councillors and teachers will be among the adults acting on the recommendations compiled in the charter which was compiled at the Waltham Forest Mental Health Summit last Friday.

The grant to pay for its creation was won Buxton School in Leytonstone after pupils impressed a panel at City Hall last year.

The Cann Hall Road school was given £1,000 to engage students and help inspire ideas to improve the lives of teenagers across Waltham Forest.

One student from the Buxton School, Rosanna Ballinger-Dvayton, 15, said: "People in the past haven’t known where to go for help but this is not the case at Buxton now.

"There is somewhere safe for everyone and Youth Health Champions to talks to for everyone. We have campaigned to raise awareness for LGBT and other issues and now the charter is there for everyone."

Sendil Coopoomootoo a 14-year-old Buxton student from Leytonstone, said the Youth Health Champions scheme at the school helps students feel they have more people to turn to.

He said: "We have posters around the school and people know they can talk to us about things they cannot speak about with adults.

"The staff at Buxton really engage and talk about mental health. Understanding the importance of a student lead, guided by teachers, is rare and really important."

Community and Extended Schools Leader at Buxton School Carol Moloney praised the students' efforts at the summit.

She said: "This is peer to peer conversations. It really stems from the young people here at Buxton, who with the help of the school, really wanted to do something to make a change.

"The young people voiced a concern about having a space to talk safely with other students about their mental health - and we were determined the help them achieve it.

"Their ideas are brilliant. They are moving social media towards being a more mental health friendly space and even started a hashtag."

Councillor Grace Williams attended the event at the Buxton school and commended the students' silence.

She said: "This is a brilliant thing that Buxton school has achieved. They have engaged every secondary school in the borough.

"This is students from Buxton school leading a movement to make young people in Waltham Forest really aware of mental health and making them feel safe to talk about it. It is a really remarkable achievement."

Katy Taylor from We Schools, an organisation which works in partnerships with the Mayor of London’s office said: "This will help students to feel part of something bigger, it is about giving them the voice and the vehicle to make a change."

The event was also supported by a free online counselling service for young people called Kooth.

The new Forest Minds social media channels can be followed on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.