This post is by Anthony Savage of Sparta Health
In response to the statistics that half of all lifetime mental health illness begins before the age of 14, The Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families has launched The Link Programme, which aim is to provide school aged-children access to mental health support and help that they need.
Research into the mental health of children and adolescents in the UK has highlighted some concerning figures that show the importance of taking a proactive approach to mental health across a lifespan, rather than reacting to later episodes of mental health illness or life long conditions. The Mental Health Foundation reported that “10% of children and young people (aged 5-16 years) have a clinically diagnosable mental problem, yet 70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age” (The MHF, 2019). To put this into context the average public school can teach up to 526 students, this means that approximately 52 children in every school have a diagnosable mental health issue. In the UK, there are over 32,000 schools.
The Link Programme aims to develop better partnerships between schools and mental health services to provide support to vulnerable children and adolescents when they need it. Supported by the government proposal (known as a green paper) ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provisions’, a specific framework has been developed with the aim to enable; the training of senior mental health leads in all school and colleges by 2025, mental health support teams beginning to work with schools and colleges by 2023 and the teaching of mental health and wellbeing in Health Education sessions by 2020 (Anna Freud, 2020). Early trials are showing that this framework of support and change is already having some positive impacts in the detection and support of mental health conditions in school-aged children and adolescents. Results from almost 1000 education and mental health professionals across over 27 localities highlight improved contact between NHS children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), better knowledge and awareness of mental health issues and confidence in supporting them, and improved systems, protocols, and referral processes to get the right help when it’s needed (Anna Freud, 2020).
The national initiative, which is aiming to reach every school and college by 2024, will be led by local CCG groups. CCG stands for Clinical Commissioning Groups and they are responsible for commissioning services to meet the health needs for their local community (Anna Freud, 2020). Although a CCG can decide what health services are funded, many prioritise the needs of vulnerable and at-risk children and adolescents.
There is a misconception that mental health problems are the concern of senior schools or colleges, supporting the turbulent twists and turns of early adulthood, the needs of junior and primary children have gone largely unrecognised. With newspapers reporting more frequently on children as young as 9 trying to take their own lives (AI.com, 2018) and with anxiety diagnoses in children on the rise (The MHF, 2018) there needs to be a greater push in building awareness and increasing confidence in responding to children’s mental health needs in the school setting.
The Link Programme, with the backing of The Department of Health, is taking the first steps to create long-lasting systemic change to how we view and respond to people’s mental health needs by improving the collaborative approach between education and mental health services.
If you’re working within an education setting or mental health service and are interested in becoming part of the link programme you can register your interest here
By registering you will have access to toolkits and resources that provide information on how to recruit for the program and run workshops.
About Anthony Savage
Anthony Savage is the Medical Services Manager at Sparta Health, having joined the team in 2017 and is responsible for the overall operational delivery of our high quality services to our clients. He has a solid background in workplace physiology, as well over 12 years of delivering, and holding senior management positions, for leading injury and condition management providers.
He is known for his innovative approach in his design and execution of services and his ability to build enduring relationships.
References
Advance Local (2018) Birmingham 9-year-old takes her own life; family hopes to spare others their pain [online] available at: https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2018/11/birmingham-9-year-old-takes-her-own-life-family-hopes-to-spare-others-their-pain.html
Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families (2020) The Link Programme [online] available at: https://www.annafreud.org/what-we-do/schools-in-mind/our-work-with-schools/the-link-programme/
Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families (2020) What is the Link Programme [online] available at: https://www.annafreud.org/what-we-do/schools-in-mind/our-work-with-schools/the-link-programme/mental-health-services/
The Mental Health Foundation (2018) What new statistics show about children's mental health [online] available at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/blog/what-new-statistics-show-about-childrens-mental-health
The Mental Health Foundation (2018) Mental health statistics: children and young people available at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/statistics/mental-health-statistics-children-and-young-people