UK
Ahead of their official response to a consultation on children and
young people’s mental health, the Department for Education and
Department of Health have announced they will proceed with plans to
employ thousands of extra staff to support the schools community.
However, the timeframe for the scheme has again come under fire,
after it was confirmed that it will reach a maximum of 25 per cent of
the population by 2023.
The response has let down the children
who gave their views about the problems with the green paper and if the
government does not rethink its approach, it runs the risk of letting
down future generations too
In December, the two departments
announced plans to spend £95 million putting “senior mental health
leads” in schools. A further £215 million will be spend on creating
local “mental health support teams”, which will work between schools and
child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), and offer support
and treatments in schools, including cognitive behaviour therapy.
In the original consultation, ministers said both projects would
start work in certain trailblazer areas, where schools will work with
the NHS, councils and other bodies, “from 2019”.
Now the
government has confirmed that mental health support teams will be place
“by December 2019”, but is yet to confirm arrangements for designated
mental health leads in schools.
Both schemes are supposed to be rolled out to “at least 20 to 25 per
cent of the population by the end of 2022-23”.
Seven universities
will begin offering education mental health practitioner courses to
would-be mental health support team members in January. The government
says there could be “as many as 8,000 additional staff supporting
schools and colleges across the country in the long-term”.
The
children’s charity Barnardo’s is disappointed with the timeframe, and
accused the government of “sleep-walking into the deepening crisis in
children’s mental health”.
“Theresa May has described mental
illness as a burning injustice that required a new approach from
Government,” said Javed Khan, the charity’s chief executive. “However,
actions speak louder than words. The government’s response to the green
paper consultation does not show enough action on how as a society we
are going to stop sleepwalking into a children’s mental health crisis.
“The response has let down the children who gave their views about
the problems with the green paper and if the government does not rethink
its approach, it runs the risk of letting down future generations too.”
The government’s consultation response will also commit to a pilot
of four-week waiting times for access to specialist NHS children and
young people’s mental health services.
The first set of
trailblazers for mental health support teams will be announced this
autumn. Training will then begin in January, offered by the University
of Reading, University of Northumbria, Greater Manchester Mental Health
CBT Training Centre, Kings College London, University College London,
University of Northampton and the University of Exeter.
“Young
people today face different pressures from those of the generations
before them and, at times, it can prove difficult to know how to
navigate them,” said Damian Hinds, the education secretary.
“I
want to make sure that when signs of mental illness appear, young people
know where they can access appropriate support.
“Teachers already
do so much to support their pupils and we want to support them further
to improve the important work done between schools and local NHS
services to make sure young people can get that help quickly.?”
Freddie Whittaker
25 July 2018