It is generally known that mental health relies on care provided in the early years of every person’s life. And it seems that today’s society is not doing enough for children’s mental health. From one pound spent by the NHS for mental health, only little more than 6p goes to children and teenagers. Moreover, according to several studies, half of the adult mental illness begins before 15 years old, and 75% before 18.
Plans and Solutions
Clearly, the school has to play a more important role in this field. A joined-up approach where the entire school comes together to offer support may be crucial for many young people. Teachers should be trained in this aspect, so that they have the appropriate knowledge and help pupils whenever they need. An experienced clinician in every school is also an excellent and necessary idea, as it turns out that more and more people fight mental illnesses.
Five Points to Respect
There are five essential points that a future policy needs to respect:
- Services should be provided up to 25 years of age, and this should be the norm.
- Schools and their life and work should be integrated together with mental health and wellbeing services. They shouldn’t be an extra option or a thing to be rarely done.
- Using a proactive approach is essential. As such, identifying the needs and meeting them may help a lot with prevention, so that it will not turn into a lifelong issue. Moreover, parents would have time to inform themselves and to reduce the conflict with their children, if any.
- Including mental health expertise in each school makes sure that everybody who might actually need help will be getting it on time.
- Last but not least, the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies program has to be implemented, to draw upon the interventions and support.
