Early support and prevention can help more children avoid mental health crises
‘Let’s connect’ is the theme of this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week, organised by Place2Be and which is taking place from 6-12 February.
The theme asks and encourages us to help children and young people and their families to make meaningful connections with others to support their mental health.
‘Let’s connect’ is also one of the pillars in the ‘five ways to wellbeing’ approach that explores different ways to make life better for everyone.
We can do this by providing counselling and mental health support in schools and education, and helping children develop strategies for coping before mental health problems escalate.
We know that through early support and prevention services, councils can help more children to avoid reaching crisis point.
But we already know that the need for effective and timely mental health services grows every day.
NHS figures show that one in six children aged seven to 16 have a mental health disorder, and this is even higher for 17 to 19-year-olds, at one in four.
Further research shows that half of all mental health problems are established by the age of 14.
When we have healthy connections – to family, friends, and others – this can support our mental health and our sense of wellbeing.
Without rewarding social connections, we can sometimes feel isolated and lonely – an additional negative impact on mental health.
The LGA shares Place2Be’s vision: for all children to have the support they need to build lifelong coping skills and to thrive. Children should not have to face mental health problems alone.
But with growing pressures on budgets, and an emphasis on treatment rather than early intervention, the support that struggling children need isn’t always made available in a timely, effective manner.
This is having a significant impact on social care services, with a record number of children with mental health problems seen by social workers in 2022, up more than half since 2018 to 87,750.
The LGA called on the Government to adequately fund children’s social care in last November’s Autumn Statement, and to meet the £1.6 billion of current cost pressures to help stabilise the social care system to ensure children are safe, and families receive the support they need.
While the additional funding for adult and children’s social care announced in the Autumn Statement and confirmed in December’s provisional local government finance settlement is welcome, it isn’t sufficient, and the scale of current pressures means that councils need a long-term, sustainable funding solution for children’s social care.
LGA analysis shows that councils spent more than £10.5 billion on children’s social care in 2020/21, nearly 25 per cent more than the £8.5 billion spent in 2016/17.
This increase reflects not only a rise in costs for providing vital support to record numbers of children in care, but also to managing the increasing complexity of children’s needs, including the emergence of increasingly severe mental health needs requiring more intensive support packages.
Further support from the NHS alongside additional funding is vital to provide the wraparound support needed by children, including community services, child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and inpatient provision.
Even before the devastating impact of COVID-19 and its successive lockdowns and school closures, the number of children with mental health problems was rising rapidly.
With the current cost-of-living crisis likely to push more families into poverty, the LGA is concerned that even more children will require support.
Greater investment in early intervention support such as counselling, youth services, early support hubs and mental health support services in schools and the community is needed. Together with training for staff, this could make the difference between a child or young person being supported to cope, or an escalating spiral of anxiety and negative thinking that ultimately becomes more difficult to help.
We know that later intervention can have a much poorer outcome for the young person and their families and the people who look after them.
Councils are committed to helping children live happy, healthy lives.
We know that preventing poor mental health is key, as are the services that support this – for example, providing green, safe spaces where children can play with friends and family, quality housing and an inclusive education system.
With mental health needs higher among some ethnic minority communities and LGBTQ+ people, tackling inequalities is also important.
Early intervention can help to prevent life-long mental health issues. Providing support early on to spot mental health problems before they develop can help children cope with challenges throughout their lives.
However, children are being driven into clinical NHS services because the system and funding prioritise treatment rather than the holistic early support and preventative services that help children have mentally healthy childhoods.
Turning this around requires a national shift away from treating children only once they are diagnosed with a mental illness, towards helping them and their families cope with challenges before they escalate.
If any proof were needed of the cost-benefits of this approach, Place2Be estimates that for every £1 invested, its counselling service in primary schools has the potential to return £8. Evidence shows that early intervention and prevention makes a real difference to children’s lives.
Waltham Forest: social prescribing in the early years
Through close working with Waltham Forest Council and the NHS, Lloyd Park Children’s Charity has, since April 2022, piloted an early years’ social prescribing service that has supported 53 families in need of mental health support.
So far, all participants report improved mental health and wellbeing at the end of the programme.
The council funds the charity to deliver children and family centre services in the borough and it received additional funding to develop one of the first social prescribing programmes for families with young children.
The service adopts a similar model to, and works alongside, the core social prescribing service in Waltham Forest, which supports residents to improve their wellbeing by connecting them to community services and support.
Families are referred by partners such as GPs, social care and mental health teams, and support is offered to people with many different needs, including both mild or long-term mental health issues, people who are socially isolated, new parents, and families who frequently attend primary healthcare provision.
Through developing close relationships with practitioners at the charity, parents have felt confident and been supported to set up their own support groups, including a young parents’ group, SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) and siblings, support for autism diagnosis, wellbeing yoga, and ‘Ready for school’.
A further 75 families have accessed support through these co-produced services.
Keri Cooper, Lloyd Park Children’s Charity’s early years social prescribing project manager, said: “We see social prescribing as an alternative to a medical response to problems families with children may be facing.
“It is about helping people to look and connect to the community for support. This felt like the missing link when we spoke to 450 of our borough’s families.”
Those referred work directly with the centre’s link worker to identify the support they need to overcome the issues they feel they are facing. Help is offered through key agencies and support groups.
Keri says many parents feel they are listened to and have a voice for the first time. Focus is always brought back to the children in the family, with parents supported to understand how their stresses may impact their children.
The prescribing programme has enabled the charity and council to strengthen and streamline partnership working to make support easier for families – with a straightforward referral process set up between partners.
The charity would like to see statutory services involve communities in service planning more often.