Mental health paper must join up provision

The details are sketchy, but the intent, it is understood, is to deliver on the recommendations detailed in Future in Mind and the commitment made by Prime Minister Theresa May in January to ensure "children and young people get the help and support they need and deserve". Future in Mind sets out how much progress can be achieved through better co-operation between the NHS, local authorities, voluntary and community services, schools and other local services.

Research by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at the UCL Institute of Education and NCB highlights the urgent need for joined-up solutions - its survey of over 10,000 children and their parents from the Millennium Cohort Study shows that one in four girls aged 14 and one in 10 boys have symptoms of depression.

Yet, despite evidence about the prevalence and need, strong statements about the importance of providing "one stop shops" and making services fit the whole child, the risk remains that government departments will pass the buck and fail to find effective ways of working together to find solutions. There is a real opportunity for the green paper to pave the way for transforming mental health support, in the way the Children and Families Act reformed the system for children with special educational needs.

Policy and practice must reflect a clear understanding that mental ill health, like physical ill health, is not always a permanent condition. It should prioritise prevention - and make sure children get the right help at the right time, particularly by ensuring schools are equipped to support children before they fall into crisis. We must move beyond the current situation where children who fall short of the threshold for a medical diagnosis are left with nothing at all. We need to cut waiting times, through improved referral processes, communication between professionals and serious investment.

For disabled children and those with complex social, emotional and mental health needs - often including autism - effective services are particularly difficult to access. Throughout the system, but particularly in mainstream schools, there is not enough understanding of these children's mental health needs, and they are too often going unmet as a result.

The green paper will need to consider setting out plans for joint commissioning between local authorities and clinical commissioning groups; involvement of children, young people and parents in strategic commissioning decisions and in individual support; and the need for effective support planning for a child with mental health needs across education, health and social care services, so that important information is shared and services respond to the full spectrum of a child's needs.

And if we are to improve the mental health for all children, the green paper and the wider policy debate requires a considerable shift to encompass the full range of issues, from serious mental health problems to emotional wellbeing.

Anna Feuchtwang is chief executive of the National Children's Bureau