Charities urge radical re-think of youth mental health services and support
Today sees the launch of a series of articles about new approaches to young people’s mental health, drawing on the evaluation and experiences of the pioneering five-year Right Here project funded by Mental Health Foundation and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
The programme focused on youth-led, youth work approaches to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of young people aged 16 – 25.
Adolescence and early adulthood are peak risk times for the onset of mental health problems. At any one time, one in six young adults aged 16-24 will have a common mental disorder, such as anxiety and depression, that meets the threshold for a clinical diagnosis.
Serious mental health problems affect around one person in a hundred and the average age of onset of psychotic symptoms is 22. However there are a range of barriers to accessing effective and early care. Transitions between services for children and adults tend to be poorly co-ordinated and there is a lack of age-appropriate mental health care.
The articles, co-written by Susan Blishen, Project Lead for Right Here, and Mark Brown, Development Director of Social Spider, a regular consultant to the programme, provide fresh insights into what works and what doesn’t in the youth mental health field and make a strong case for mental health informed youth work as an approach that can complement and supplement more traditional medically-based services.
They ask the question: “Youth work and young people’s mental health go hand in hand: why don’t we give youth work what it needs to make better mental health a reality?”
Susan Blishen, Project Lead for Right Here, said: “Over five years we found out a lot about what does and doesn’t work when you set yourself the goal of working with young people to develop new ways of helping others to have better mental health. These articles should be of interest to anyone who cares about ensuring that the mental health of our young people is given priority.
“In thinking about Right Here and what it achieved we realised that good youth work, far from being an add-on to the story of young people’s mental health and wellbeing, can be a vital component of supporting young people’s mental health and wellbeing.”
Jenny Edwards, CEO, Mental Health Foundation, said: “The Right Here project was the first of its kind in its attempt to revolutionize the way we think about youth mental health. These articles document just how important it is to ensure the wishes of young people are respected, peer support is encouraged, and that services commissioned are designed with these at their core.
“Looking forward, the lessons learned should play a key role in shaping the role youth mental health services have in our society. The Mental Health Foundation supports the involvement of young people and working with them as leaders in co-production of services fit for the 21st century.”
