Call to rocket-boost children’s mental health support through schools as half of school children in England set to miss out on help

• Child of the North/Centre for Young Lives report sets out an evidence-based plan to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children through schools to support the 1 in 5 children with a probable mental health condition.
• Report calls for widening of Mental Health Support Teams to all schools, new ‘one-stop-shop’ hubs for parents and children to find local support, and national roll out of local wellbeing surveys to track ‘emotional temperature’ of school children.
• Scale of crisis set out with new data suggesting one in five Year 9 pupils in one area have a probable eating disorder, and one in six 12-to-15-year-olds in the same area have self-harmed in the last 12 months.
• Political parties urged to put children’s wellbeing at the heart of their future government plans to reduce the prevalence of children’s poor mental health by half over the next 10 years.

A new report published today (Friday 26^th April) by Child of the North and Anne Longfield’s Centre for Young Lives think tank sets out a new plan for Government to boost children’s mental health through the education system, as half of England’s school children will still be without access to Mental Health Support Teams after 2025 under current plans.