Today, the Education and Health and Social Care Committees published their joint report into the Government’s Green Paper on mental health saying the proposals for improving mental health care for young people will leave hundreds of thousands of children without the support they desperately need.
Responding to the Committee’s report, Denise Hatton, YMCA England & Wales Chief Executive, said:
“The Education Select Committee and the Health and Social Care Committee are absolutely right to criticise the Government’s Green Paper on children and young people’s mental health. It lacked ambition, focus and failed to come forward with substantive action in helping to tackle the mental health crisis among young people.
“Whilst the Government is right that schools are one of the best places to deliver early intervention and preventative mental health care for young people, teachers often lack the capacity and capability to deliver this successfully. The obvious advantage is that schools have the greatest access to young people and young people themselves have told us this is the setting they want to receive the support, but without the appropriate funding or skills schools will not be able to deliver what is desperately needed by so many.
“If this approach is followed through, the Government will be setting schools up to fail in the same way they have continued to allow Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services to fail. Ensuring another generation are left isolated from support and alone to cope with their mental health difficulties.”
Find out more about YMCA’s work on mental health