A report published today by the Child of the North initiative – led by the N8 Research Partnership and Health Equity North – and former Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield’s Centre for Young Lives think tank sets out a new plan for Government to boost children’s mental health through schools.
The report – Improving mental health and wellbeing with and through educational settings – reveals that half of England’s school children will still be without access to Mental Health Support Teams after 2025 under current plans.
It is the third in a series of Child of the North/Centre for Young Lives reports to be published during 2024, focusing on how both the Government and Opposition can reset their vision for children to put the life chances of young people at the heart of policy making and delivery.
With children spending more time in school than in any other formal institutional structure, educational settings provide the ideal opportunity to reach large numbers of children simultaneously and can also facilitate intervention with pupils displaying early mental health or behavioural symptoms.
The report comes amid a national epidemic of children’s mental health problems. In 2022, 18% of children aged 7-to-16-years-old and 22% of young people aged 17-to-24 had a probable mental health condition.
Despite some extra investment in recent years, the children’s mental health system is blighted by chronic waiting lists and a postcode lottery of provision, and thousands of children and young people continue to struggle without support.
Over 32,000 children had been waiting over two years for help at the end of 2022/3. The consequences for school attendance, educational achievement, mental health problems in adulthood, as well as over-stretched public services, economic productivity, and society’s overall wellbeing are enormous.
The report calls on the Government to expand the mental health support offered through schools and educational settings from primary school onwards, without placing extra burdens on teachers.
Its recommendations include:
- Expanding the mental health support offered through schools and educational settings, starting in the primary school years, to all schools. Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) are known to provide effective help to schools, but most schools still do not have access to them. The Government’s current plans mean that from 2025 half of England’s 8 million school age children will still not have access to a MHST in their school, should they need it.
- Supporting the creation of a network of ‘one stop shop’ local online NHS information hubs, based on NHS Healthier Together, to signpost children and families to appropriate local mental health support where it is available. A ‘one stop shop’ would allow children, families, and schools to learn together about the local mental health support offered in their locality and how it can be accessed.
- Harnessing the power of digital technology in a way that benefits the mental health of children by rolling out school-based research surveys like the existing #BeeWell and Age of Wonder projects nationally. This would gather local information about children’s mental health and wellbeing, identify geographical hotspots and determine when the ‘emotional temperature’ of the school is in the danger zone, so that schools can offer early support.
- Tackling the upstream determinants of poor mental health, including early support for neurodivergent children. The evidence shows that pre-school and primary school experience can increase the risk for mental health conditions. The Government’s strategy to improve the social and emotional wellbeing of young people should include a focus on the pre-school and primary school years.
- Addressing the workforce crisis in educational psychology provision to encourage a larger number of graduate psychologists to support schools, alongside teacher training and career development that equips teaching staff to create classroom and school environments that promote pupil wellbeing and support the mental health needs of pupils. Government could and should mandate the provision of such training in the education and CPD of teaching staff.
To highlight the scale of mental health problems among young people, the report also includes preliminary data gathered from 5,000 children and young people in Bradford that reveals the shocking rise of eating disorders in the area, including:
- One in five (21%) of Year 9 pupils in Bradford reporting a probable eating disorder.
- 18% of 12-to-15-year-olds in Bradford reporting symptoms indicative of a probable eating disorder (the national rate among 11-to-16-year-olds is 13%).
- 17% of 12-to-15-year-olds reported self-harm in the last 12 months, with a higher prevalence in girls (20%) compared to boys (13%).
Read the full report – Improving mental health and wellbeing with and through educational settings
Find out more about the A country that works for all children and young people series
Anne Longfield, Executive Chair of the Centre for Young Lives, said:
“As an anchor in children’s lives, schools have a crucial role to play in supporting children’s mental health and wellbeing. Yet half of the school age children in England – four million children – will not have access to Mental Health Support Teams under current plans. We need to rocket-boost support in schools if we hope to bring down the numbers of children who are struggling with mental health problems.
“At the next election, the parties will put forward their proposals for improving children’s mental health. Labour has already pledged to recruit more staff, introduce specialist mental health support for children in every school, and deliver an open access children and young people’s mental health hub for every community. But there should be a cross-party ambition to reduce the prevalence of children’s mental health conditions by half over the next 10 years, and all politicians should agree that the current system is failing too many children and needs urgent attention.”
Dr Camilla Kingdon, former President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said:
“There is a huge evidence base for the importance of good mental health in childhood. However, sadly nearly 50% of lifetime mental health conditions are established by 14 years. We have a crucial window of opportunity to intervene to support children with mental health problems. We cannot let these children slip through the system without help.
“The UK needs to prioritise mental health and wellbeing of children for the sake of our children – and all our futures. There are solutions at our fingertips – we just need the political will to make it happen.”
Professor Mark Mon Williams, Child of The North report series editor, said:
“There is no better measure of the health of a nation than the mental wellbeing of its children and young people. The statistics on mental health in children are heartbreaking and demand immediate action. The UK must prioritise the mental health and wellbeing of its children and young people if it wants to enjoy long-term prosperity. This report shows how the next Government could and should invest in the UK’s future wellbeing.”
Dr Ruth Wadman, Research Fellow for the Age of Wonder Adolescent Mental Health Collaboratory, said:
“Our children and young people need good mental health and wellbeing to develop and flourish. There is an urgent need to step up our efforts to prevent mental health conditions and to intervene early when they emerge. The report shows that schools can play a key role in promoting good mental health and wellbeing, both by harnessing the power of data and by listening to children and young people.”