Plans by NHS England to recruit 1,000 new "link workers" by 2020/21 could spark an expansion of "social prescribing" schemes for children and young people.
Social prescribing aims to relieve pressure on NHS services by helping patients find suitable community activities to improve their health and wellbeing.
Last year, the government announced £4.5m to set up social prescribing schemes, with 23 projects across the UK so far being awarded a share of the funding.
Only one of these, led by youth charity StreetGames, works directly with young people - but Health Secretary Matt Hancock is an advocate of the approach and wants to establish a National Academy for Social Prescribing to expand its use more widely.
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