The lives of children growing up in the UK today are increasingly blighted by mental ill health. Last year, Childline delivered a record number of counselling sessions with young people struggling with suicidal thoughts – the equivalent of 60 sessions every day via phone, one-to-one chat and email.
“I remember the first time I took a call from a young person who was feeling suicidal,” says Childline manager Anna Krala. “They had feelings they couldn’t cope with. I spent time trying to help them rationalise why they were feeling like that and encouraging them to talk. But it was very shocking, and I don’t think that shock ever goes away.”
Mental and emotional health worries and wellbeing issues accounted for one in every three of the 295,202 counselling sessions provided by Childline. The service, set-up by Dame Esther Rantzen more than 30 years ago and now run by the NSPCC, is struggling to cope with increased demand and the changing nature of the counselling it needs to deliver. Mental health related counselling sessions alone have increased by 26% over the last four years.
Research by the NSPCC calculates that in the last two years 100,000 children in England referred to NHS child and adolescent child mental health services were turned away – equal to about 150 rejections a day. Some children were seen within just two days but for others the wait was more than five months.
“A lot of young people who come to us are caught up in the referral system and are on waiting lists,” says Krala. “But when a young person talks to us about feeling suicidal, that is how they feel right now – they can’t wait until next month or six weeks for a referral.”
The strain on the referral system is happening at the same time as clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) – the GP-led local organisations that are responsible for planning community health services – have been accused of not giving children’s mental health the attention it needs and not investing enough money.
Research by the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP) revealed an underinvestment by CCGs and described the amount of money reaching frontline children’s mental health services as “negligible”. When the research was released the then RCP president, Sir Simon Wessely, commented: “It’s a national scandal that opportunities to prevent mental illness from occurring in childhood are being missed because of an unacceptable low investment.”
And an analysis (pdf) by the NSPCC estimated that more than a million abused children in England live in areas where there is inadequate planning of mental health services to meet their needs.
“CCGs are facing a number of pressures and demands, and sometimes vulnerable children are not getting the attention they should be,” says NSPCC senior policy and public affairs officer Alana Ryan, adding that CCGs should address children’s mental health as a priority so that young people are confident that services will be there if needed.
The government’s promises to put children and young people’s mental health at the top of the political agenda, outlined in its green paper published last December, have been welcomed. But those working in frontline children’s mental health services in the voluntary and statutory sectors are dismayed at the lack of urgency behind the reforms. By 2022-23, only a quarter of the country will have access to the school-based support proposed, with further roll-out conditional on additional funding.
The timescale prompted the chair of the House of Commons education committee and Tory MP Robert Halfon to accuse ministers of failing “hundreds of thousands” of children who would not get the care that they so “desperately needed”. While Dr Max Davie, consultant community paediatrician and officer for health promotion at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, says of the green paper: “We are setting up a first-aid service for a much deeper and more complex crisis.”
The intention, though, to put schools at the heart of its mental health reforms for children and young people is well founded. According to the NSPCC, the number of referrals to specialist services from schools seeking mental health support for pupils increased by more than a third in the last three years. Alarmingly, more than half of those (56%) came from primary schools.
But there will always be a need for mental health support outside of the classroom, says Krala: “Quite a lot of young people tell us that they don’t feel able to talk to parents or teachers so they come to us.”
It’s a view shared by Ryan: “Some children won’t feel school is a comfortable space, and they might feel worried about other children gossiping about them. We need a variety of options so that children get the support they need. That’s why it’s very important to have a 24/7 confidential service like Childline.”
Timely intervention for children with mental health problems is crucial. According to evidence reported by the Mental Health Foundation, half of all mental health conditions are established by or before the age of 14 and the sooner these issues are picked up, the more likely young people are to make a full recovery. Early intervention is particularly essential for children who have been abused – research shows that children who have been maltreated are twice as likely to develop depression and this type of depression is less likely to respond to treatment.
The NSPCC’s Childline is there for children who need to talk, says Ryan, whether they are struggling with mental health issues because of abuse, neglect or otherwise. “We want to encourage them to express their feelings and the hope is that if there were any mental health problems, they would get the support they need.”
It’s vital that, when a child needs to talk, there’s someone ready to listen. That’s why the NSPCC’s Childline service offers help and support to thousands of children and young people whenever they need. It costs £4 to answer a child and, with 90 per cent of the charity’s funding coming from generous people like you, every penny can make a difference. Could you donate £3?
