New report reveals importance of community-based mental health support
Data reveals need for increased government investment in community-based mental health support for children and young people.
Our CEO, Professor Eamon McCrory, welcomes a new report highlighting how a shift towards investment into community-based mental health support for children and young people should be an important part of government reforms.
The report was led by researchers from the Centre for Young Lives and launched last week at an event hosted by former Children’s Commissioner Baroness Longfield in the House of Lords. According to new data shared in Growing Up Well, mental health trusts are spending less than 20% of their commissioning budget on non-specialist, community-based mental health services for children and young people. This is despite it being, on average, one hundred times cheaper to treat young people in the community rather than as inpatients.
The research shows that there remains a lack of prioritisation and under-resourcing of community-based, non-specialist provision..i
Professor Eamon McCrory, CEO at Anna Freud said in response:
“The data presented by the Centre for Young Lives strengthens the evidence base further for increased funding for community-based mental health support. These important findings echo our own urgent calls outlined in Thinking differently, where we emphasised the need for a greater focus on early intervention and prevention to close the treatment gap in children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing
“We know firsthand the importance of tackling mental health issues before they escalate or develop and the best place for these early interventions is in a young person’s own community.
“This report shows that increased funding for prevention and early intervention approaches that complement urgent care services is no less needed now then it was a year ago. This includes community-based assets like Family Hubs that bring integrated services for children, young people and families into their communities and under one roof.
“We hope this report helps the government to recognise the importance of investing in preventative approaches to urgently address children's and young people's mental health needs. This includes increased co-production with young people, particularly for those with lived experience of marginalisation.”
Read the reportFind out more
Find out more about how we think the treatment gap in children and young people’s mental health can be closed through a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention in our Thinking Differently manifesto.