Mental Health Services for Young People Need Massive Improvement

The government has promised a consultation document (Green Paper) on children.s and young people's health. This will include £95million for schools to appoint and train designated staff for mental health support from 2019. Stockton Liberal Democrats welcome this announcement especially since a recent survey from Parent Zone in 2016 showed 91 percent of teachers reported seeing increased rates of mental illness, 95 percent of schools deal with stress and anxiety among their pupils and just under 70 percent deal with depression.

Even though the green paper is certainly welcomed, a question should be asked: How has this mental health crisis come to be?

According to Young Minds, CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services) accounts for only 0.7% of NHS spending and around 6.4% of mental health spending. In 2015 the government committed £1.4billion however even with this funding only one in three young people with diagnosable mental health problems will get the help they need.

David Minchella, Stockton North Lib Dems, believes that more needs to be done to help children and young people with mental illness.

He said: 'It's vital that mental health education is included in schools, and qualified staff need to be available to help every school. I agree with these proposals as far as they go, but what about other aspects of mental health provision for young people and children, such as mindfulness classes, decreased waiting times, appropriate care closer to where they live instead of inpatient care far from home and families, raising awareness of the impact of early life trauma and coping with the perils of social media and its effects? More can and should be done to support children and young people cope with their mental health.'