Intervening early in children’s mental health is key
18 Jun 2012
Commenting on the report ‘How Mental Health Loses Out in the NHS’ published on Monday (18th June 2012) by the London School of Economics Mental Health Policy Group, Sarah Brennan, Chief Executive of YoungMinds, said:
“Lord Layard is right to highlight how mental health is often the Cinderella service of the NHS. Yet the picture is even worse for children and young people’s mental health where for every pound spent by the NHS less than a penny is spent on Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
“Getting it right for children when they are young plays a key part in reducing the number of people who suffer with mental illness throughout their lives.”
- 1 in 10 children and young people aged 5 - 16 suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder - that is around three children in every class.
- Between 1 in every 12 and 1 in 15 children and young people deliberately self-harm and around 37,000 are admitted to hospital every year due to the severity of their injuries. This has increased by 68% in the last ten years.
- More than half of all adults with mental health problems were diagnosed in childhood. Less than half were treated appropriately at the time.
- 60% of children in care have a mental health disorder - these are some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
- 95% of imprisoned young offenders have a mental health disorder. Many of them are struggling with more than one disorder.
