Mental health is the “biggest issue” facing children during the pandemic, the Children’s Commissioner for England has said.
Speaking at the LGA’s annual conference, Dame Rachel De Souza said councils had “played a huge role in identifying and supporting vulnerable children through the pandemic”, but that better integration with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services, children’s social care and health was needed.
Referring to her Big Ask children’s survey, she noted: “If there’s one thing that’s clear with the Big Ask, it’s that mental health is the big issue facing this generation of children now – more children are unhappy about their mental health than any other issue [such as] schools, exams, issues at home, issues online.”
Dame Rachel said that “fewer than four in 10 children with a mental health condition currently benefit from treatment” and wants to see mental health teams rolled out in schools more quickly.
She added that she was working on the Government’s SEND Review, Care Review and Integrated Care System White Paper, noting: “Three reviews, three civil service teams, three different service lenses, often the same group of children. It becomes much simpler at child level if we design the system around the child.”
Tia Carmichael, a member of the youth parliament for Plymouth, told delegates that young people have been written off as a “lost generation” and that there was a need to stop using this term.
Dame Rachel agreed, and asked younger people to reflect on how resilient they have become amid the pandemic’s “huge” challenges.