Children’s Mental Health Special Report

Research shows that half of all mental health conditions are established before the age of 14 and that early intervention could prevent many of these problems from escalating in adolescence and adulthood. According to the Department of Health and Social Care, the cost of untreated adult mental ill health is £105bn each year. It is for this reason that the focus of recent government policy has shifted towards improving access to support when problems first emerge.

The 2017 Children’s Mental Health Green Paper set out to “transform support for children and young people’s mental health” through measures to improve links between education settings and community-based mental health services. The green paper states: “We want to make sure that young people have access to the services they need, whilst teachers and schools – who are often on the front line of recognising and supporting a young person’s mental health problems – have access to the training they need.”