The government has pledged to invest £5m to expand the NHS’s network of hubs delivering earlier mental health support for children and young adults.
The funding will be used to develop 10 drop-in ‘early support hubs’ nationwide, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.
The mental health and wellbeing of young people has been of growing concern since the pandemic, with NHS research last year suggesting as many as a quarter of 17-19-year-olds in England have a “probable” mental health disorder.
The drop-in centres will offer mental health support and advice to young people (aged from 11 up to 25) who will not need a referral by a doctor or school.
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Services provided will include group work, counselling, psychological therapies, specialist advice and signposting to information and other services, said the DHSC.
Mental health minister Maria Caulfield said the move would expand the network of roughly 60 early support hubs that currently exist.
“Youngsters going through the trauma of worry, anxiety or stress will have a physical space to go to when their problems first emerge,” she said.
Responding to the announcement, Andy Bell, chief executive at the Centre for Mental Health, said the move needed to be just a “first step towards a comprehensive package and plan to make early support hubs accessible for all children and young people in all parts of the country.”
Dr Elaine Lockhart, chair of the Child and Adolescent Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, agreed the move was “important” but that it needed to be accompanied by further investment to ensure the rollout of these hubs nationwide.
“While positive steps are being made, it’s important to remember that drop-in centres and mental health support teams in schools are not a substitute for investment in specialist mental health services,” she added.
Separately, a review by the college of NHS ‘talking therapies’ has identified that these psychotherapy services need better tailoring to meet the needs of Black and minoritised ethnic groups.
The review, Ethnic Inequalities in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT), was undertaken by the college in partnership with the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health.
It noted poor outcomes can be tackled and even disappear when access is improved, and culturally sensitive therapy is provided. People from Black African backgrounds using IAPT services were sometimes more likely to improve and recover in comparison with White British people, it added.
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