In March, former Liberal Democrat care minister Norman Lamb launched Future in Mind, a policy document outlining the government's commitment to improve child mental health services over the next five years, backed by an extra £1.25bn for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
Details of how the money will be spent has been drip fed since the election and at the end of last month, childcare minister Sam Gyimah used an appearance at the youth select committee to profess his desire to develop a mental health peer mentoring programme in schools.
Gyimah told the committee - a group of young people supported by the House of Commons and which this year will focus its work on youth mental health services - how struck he was by their understanding of the unique pressures young people face.
"The last thing young people want is an adult telling them how they should feel or how they should respond," he said.
Advisory board
This, said Gyimah, is why he will be setting up an advisory board tasked with examining what makes an effective peer mentoring programme.
"By training children in recognising mental illnesses, and in mentoring techniques, we can help tackle the insecurity that can go with mental health problems, while also helping to destigmatise it," he said.
While this is an outcome the sector welcomes, there are concerns that peer mentoring is not enough to tackle stigma on its own.
"Peer mentoring reduces stigma, but it needs to be part of a range of interventions," says Jane Evans, senior research and policy officer at Barnardo's.
"Young people have an interest in mental health issues, so I think it's a realistic goal to reduce stigma. Young people open up more to friends and we know it's dangerous when they bottle things up."
Hannah Kinsey, training and consultancy manager at YoungMinds, agrees.
"This has to be part of a wider system - it's not a catch-all and can't run completely on its own."
She says peer mentoring is a good way to address the concern that teachers and adults do not know what young people are going through and that the adult world is out of touch with the issues they face. She gives online pressures as an example.
Lack of consistency
One area professionals in the sector hope the advisory board will address is the lack of consistency with which schools currently approach peer mentoring programmes.
"Lots of schools try something without professional help, but not enough effort goes into it," Kinsey says.
There is quite a lot of variety in how schools approach peer mentoring, according to Evans.
"Quite a lot of schools do it already, but counsellors come from different organisations and some may not be trained properly, which means they can't take therapy as far and end up going to CAMHS, which has a huge waiting list," she adds.
"There are lots of voluntary sector organisations that offer peer mentoring, but I would assume in the current environment that a lot of schools have to pay for it."
However, Kate Martin, director at Common Room Consulting, says there are several issues with schools leading programmes themselves. "Schools are often very risk averse, and their relationship with pupils is different to how a youth organisation, for example, would see their issues," says Martin.
Consult young people
She urges that models should be decided on by young people.
"Young people involved would choose a model they would actually use, and probably a different one from what the school would choose.
"There are some really good packages out there, but schools need good resources, and have to commit to it fully. It's not just an add-on."
David Goodban, interim head, children's and young people's programme, at the Mental Health Foundation, says schools need people with a medical background, and this in-school support can often be lacking.
He says a good model needs a "very carefully set up structure with confidentiality" that will enable the mentor to benefit from it.
Evans agrees and says that a crucial part of any peer mentoring programme is that the mentee has support, training and guidance on how far they can be confidential.
She welcomes the government looking into peer mentoring in a "more holistic way" with more structures.
But she says it cannot be a one-size-fits-all, and must be tailored to each environment.
"Schools can think about doing it themselves, but they want examples of what good practice looks like and options to try. There is scope for it being done in different ways," she adds.
For Martin, the most effective type of peer mentoring model is one that leads with young people, and finds a balance that ensures young people know their role, but is not too rigorous.
Flexible for children
"It needs to be flexible for children, not just an adult-led programme," Martin says.
"The main thing is that adults don't get caught up in the risk and safety and let procedure get in the way."
When it comes to selecting the mentor and mentee, there is mixed opinion on whether it is an advantage or hindrance for a mentor to have experience of mental health issues.
"The crux of peer mentoring is thinking about who the mentor and mentee are," says Martin.
"It isn't always the disadvantaged who make best mentees and it's not always the brightest students who make best mentors."
Martin advises picking disabled children, those with mental health problems and young carers.
"Select young people with life experience," she says.
Young people with mental health problems, she says, are often put in passive roles, but they could have the most empathy to help with other young people's needs.
She adds: "Who better than those who have been through it themselves?"
GUIDE TO PEER MENTORING
Peer mentoring schemes can be set up by a school independently, or with the help of an outside agency.
The Mental Health Foundation has published guidance on carrying our peer mentoring programmes for secondary schools.
The guide says peer mentoring can range from mentors running a one-to-one drop-in service, acting as a mediator for conflict resolution, tutoring other pupils, or offering peer education in specific areas such as bullying or drug abuse.
The guidance also states that peer support can help with issues including bullying, attendance, bereavement and conflict at home.
It advises that peer mentoring should not take the place of professional support services from within a school or external agencies.
Case study: Newcastle mentoring scheme tackles self-esteem and confidence issues
Children Northeast runs two peer mentor training programmes - a one-day introduction to peer mentoring and a more in-depth 30-hour programme.
Both programmes are aimed at secondary schools and their pupils. The charity has been running peer mentoring programmes since 2008, and in the Newcastle area alone has reached 12 secondary schools.
The one-day course gives schools an introduction to providing in-school support, tackling issues such as low self-esteem, confidence and exam preparation.
Its Youth Link service focuses on one-to-one peer mentoring in schools and communities.
Children Northeast recruits and trains volunteer mentees aged between 16 and 25, who have a three-day training course that covers communication, health and safety, risk assessment, safeguarding and equality and diversity.
"The government could learn from our programmes about the importance of early intervention," says Lynn Renwick, service manager at the charity.
"It talks about it in the early years, but it can happen at this point, and as teenagers. This is a difficult time, with exam stress and transitions, and friendships are hard at this age."
The key to effective peer mentoring, Renwick says, is that mentors need to know where to go so they are not carrying any burdens.
"It is important that schools are really on board to enable mentors enough time and support them, because mentoring can be quite lonely."
She adds: "Mentors need to be clear on where they can go with issues and concerns, so it requires very clear, good communication."
Case study: East London programme boosts children’s emotional resilience
More than Mentors was a pilot peer mentoring programme that ran in two secondary schools for three months, supporting 36 young people.
It was set up in collaboration with Newham Council, following a year of research into best practice in mentoring and working with young people on how to best implement the findings.
"The mentoring programme aimed to promote emotional resilience and the ability for pupils to stay emotionally well despite the challenges they're facing," says Simon Munk, resilience programme lead at UCL Partners, an academic health science partnership.
The programme offered two days of initial training, led by a youth worker and psychologist, then the mentors and mentees met each week after school over the course of a term. The mentors were brought together regularly as a group to support them and reinforce their training.
"Ideally, the mentor would have had a mentor themselves or some of the right skills, including the ability to build empathy," explains Munk.
"They will be quite resilient and won't have had mental health problems themselves, and will understand the boundaries of the role, where to go for support and know not to take on too much.
"Often, a school pays little attention to who they recruit and how to train and support mentors. It's so important to make sure you get the right mentors and mentees. Not everyone makes a good mentor and not everyone will benefit from being a mentee."
The schools involved in the programme reported a significant increase in resilience of the mentees and it reflected positively on their schoolwork, says Munk.
He adds: "The challenge is training the peer to make the most of the relationship, so it's like going to a professional friend."
