Natasha Devon

Natasha Jade Devon MBE (born 12 March 1981) is a writer and social critic. She co-founded the Body Gossip education programme and the Self-Esteem Team, which is designed to educate teenagers, teachers and parents about mental health and body image issues. In August 2015, the Department for Education (DfE) appointed Devon as its first ever mental health champion for schools but axed the role in May 2016.

Early campaigning

Devon's personal experience of body image and mental health issues began at age 17 when she first suffered from an eating disorder. She recovered from bulimia in 2006, and later co-founded the Body Gossip Education Programme to provide teenagers with information and advice about the body image issues that had affected her.

In 2010, she wrote an article about her experience of bulimia in the UK edition of Cosmopolitan magazine; she has subsequently written a monthly column, 'Natasha Devon Wants a Word', for the publication. In 2012, Devon co-founded The Self-Esteem Team with Grace Barrett, a musician, and journalist Nadia Mendoza. As of August 2015, she had addressed more than 50,000 teenagers, as well as their parents and teachers.

Mental health champion for schools

On 30 August 2015, the Department for Education (DfE) appointed Devon as its first ever mental health champion for schools. Announcing the decision, Education and Childcare Minister Sam Gyimah said: "Natasha is an inspiration to many young people and I'm delighted to have her on board as our first mental health champion. I know that together we can make a real difference in encouraging more young people to talk openly about mental health". Shortly afterwards, Devon wrote in The Daily Telegraph of her initial caution in accepting the role, adding:

"But then I thought – Why have they picked me? Anyone who's ever watched me on the news knows I'm notorious for being a left-leaning 'gob on a stick'. Surely, if it was tokenism, they'd have selected someone less likely to challenge them? When, during our first meeting the Minister told me that the Government had realised the scale of the problem, they knew they had a responsibility to do something about it and they wanted someone with real experience within the field to advise them, I knew I'd made the right decision".

However, in May 2016 it was announced that Devon's role was to be axed. The decision came days after she had criticized the government's testing regime in schools at the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference, where she had said: "Time and time again over recent years, young people - and the people who teach them - have spoken out about how a rigorous culture of testing and academic pressure is detrimental to their mental health. At one end of the scale we've got four-year-olds being tested, at the other end of the scale we've got teenagers leaving school and facing the prospect of leaving university with record amounts of debt. Anxiety is the fastest growing illness in under-21s. These things are not a coincidence." The BBC reported that the DfE denied that Devon was being silenced because of her criticism, quoting the department as saying that an 'independent NHS task force report' published in February 2016 had 'recommended that a cross-government mental health champion be created. For this reason we have had to reconsider the department's own role' and that Devon's position was being axed to avoid 'confusion'. Devon emphasised that while she had carried out her role unpaid to maintain her independence of the government, the new appointee would be salaried and could "be paid effectively to toe the party line".

In September 2016, Devon obtained internal DfE emails using a Freedom of Information request. These indicated that despite the department's denials that she was sacked for making public criticisms of government policy, DfE officials were discussing her removal on these grounds months before her position was terminated.

TV and radio

In 2012, Devon was one of the mentors on the Channel 4 TV series Gok’s Teens: The Naked Truth. She has also appeared on the BBC, Sky News and ITV as an expert on body image, and on the BBC's Newsnight programme. Other media appearances include Newsround, BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio London, and BBC iWonder's Why do I earn less than a man?

Publications

Devon has written regular columns for publications including Cosmopolitan and TES, (formerly known as the Times Educational Supplement). She has also been published in The Daily Telegraph, the Huffington Post and The Independent.

Books

Books co-authored by Devon include:

Awards

In 2012, Devon was Cosmopolitan's 'Ultimate Woman of the Year' and the following year was recognized by Ernst & Young as one of their top 50 Social Entrepreneurs.

In 2014, the Self-Esteem Team won the 'Education in schools and colleges' category at the Body Confidence Awards, with the judges noting that it was a "small team doing great things". Devon was appointed MBE in the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours in recognition of her "services to young people".