A report out today from the Children’s Commissioner calls for the Department of Health’s national mental health strategy to urgently focus on ensuring more accessible children and young people’s support services are available sooner.
This comes at a time when:
- More than one million children in England now have an active referral to a mental health support service
- That’s almost double the number recorded in 2018-19 and almost 10 per cent rise since last year
- Over a third of those children and young people are on a waiting list so are still waiting for support
- And 60,000 children have already been waiting over two years for mental health support, including those with neurodevelopmental conditions
We already know how vital community based mental health support services are to ensuring that people access support sooner and reduce system pressures. Last year 2,293, 13-18 year olds access accessed our support services and the recently opened Children and Young People’s Safe Havens have already seen an influx of online, telephone and drop in support being urgently accessed by local young people.
This is a generational mental health crisis! We urge the government to take urgent action to expand children and young people’s mental health support services so that they offer earlier access, where and when children need it most.
Adam Crampsie, Everyturn’s Chief Exec commented:
“The latest figures from the Children’s Commissioner must be a call to action. Demand for children’s mental health support is rising faster than services can respond, and too many young people are waiting until they reach crisis before getting help.
“Real prevention means ensuring children and young people can access timely support, close to home, before problems escalate. That’s why we’re investing in services like our new Children and Young People’s Safe Havens, providing compassionate support when it’s needed most.
“If we want to change these statistics, we need sustained investment in early intervention and community based mental health services.”