A quarter of Year 13 students in England have sought some form of mental health support in the last year, yet many struggle to access help, finds a new national study led by UCL researchers.
Of those who sought help, 35% said they were either on a waiting list or had otherwise yet to receive it, according to the study surveying over 11,000 people aged 17-18.
Importantly, the research reveals that young people in the most deprived parts of the country are 11 percentage points more likely to say they are still waiting or have not received the support they applied for, at 39% compared to 28% of those in the most affluent areas.
The disparities in access to more specialist mental health support services, such as NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), were even more stark. Young people living in the poorest areas were more than twice as likely to have not received specialist support as the most affluent pupils – 39% in deprived areas had not received or were still waiting for support, compared to just 18% in more affluent areas.
