£75m fund to tackle child mental health issues
Neil Puffett
Friday, November 22, 2013
Children attending schools in 12 areas across England will receive resilience lessons as part of a £75m programme aimed at preventing mental health problems.
The Big Lottery’s HeadStart initiative will help children aged between 10 and 14 cope with the pressures of modern life.
The funding will support the creation of cross-sector partnerships aimed at helping young people in the identified area, particularly those most at risk.
Support for young people will primarily be delivered through special resilience lessons in schools, although the funding is also intended to enable work through youth clubs and direct contact with families.
The areas that will benefit are Birmingham, Blackpool, Cornwall, Cumbria, Hull, Kent, Knowsley, Lewisham, Middlesbrough, Newham, Southampton, and Wolverhampton.
Sarah Brennan, chief executive of charity YoungMinds, said: “It is desperately sad that in an average classroom, 10 children will have witnessed their parents separate, one will have experienced the death of a parent, and seven will have been bullied and yet there is no single approach to supporting all our children at this key stage in their development.”
The programme was launched after research conducted by the Big Lottery Fund highlighted concerns around stress and worry for 10- to 14-year-olds.
The research found that mental health was one of the top concerns for the age group.
More than one in five (21 per cent) said they had avoided socialising with friends because they were stressed or worried. And a quarter said they are already worrying about choosing a future career.
Dharmendra Kanani, director of Big Lottery Fund England, said: “These survey results give us a window into what’s going on in the minds of young people.
“We know more about mental health than ever before, for example the onset of lifelong mental health conditions start before the age of 18 and most poor mental health conditions take grip during our adolescence, especially between the ages of 10 and 14.
“The Big Lottery Fund is investing £75m to enable children to have a better chance of dealing with the knocks and setbacks in life which many adults take for granted.
“For many young people, how they feel about themselves, their self-esteem, confidence or negative peer pressure can become troubling, take root and lead to crime, self-harm or even suicide.”
