CYP Now - Patchy mental health provision fails children in need of support

Almost weekly since I was appointed to the post of children's commissioner, a teenager or a parent has told me of the struggle they have had in trying to get mental health support for themselves or their child.

Often the story has involved desperate circumstances. A boy who has become depressed and begun to have suicidal thoughts, or a girl struggling to come to terms with traumatic childhood experiences who is seriously self-harming.

Many of the young people had plucked up the courage to see their GP and admit they need help. Often the GP had felt they couldn’t offer the level of support needed and referred them to specialist services. Too often, the specialist service hadn’t been available because, in their words, they weren’t “serious” enough, leaving them high and dry with nowhere to go for the help they increasingly needed.

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