New Mental Health Support Teams will support a population of more than 470,000 children and young people, who will be based in and near schools and colleges, with support starting from next year. The first cohort of new staff are on track to begin their training at seven universities nationwide in January.

Lee Golze, Head of Strategic Commissioning & Transformation at Doncaster Council said: “Children’s mental health remains a key priority for Doncaster and we are delighted to have been successful in achieving this funding. This will allow us to continue with the work identified in our Children’s and Young People’s Plan around improving children’s emotional wellbeing and mental health across the borough. We have had some success over the past 12 months in this area by introducing more support at a local level but this funding will help us do more.”

One in nine young people aged five to 15 had a mental health condition in 2017 and teenagers with a mental disorder are more than two and a half times more likely to have a mental disorder in adulthood. 

Dr David Crichton, Chair, Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group said: "This is excellent news for Doncaster and will provide vital support for children and young people across the borough.

"We know some good work has been done already, led by the CCG and its partners to create a front door service for children and young people, as part of the local transformation plan. This extra resource will mean that we can extend this type of support across a significant number of schools, supporting children and young people to be as healthy and emotionally well as possible."  

Kathryn Singh, Chief Executive of Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH), the organisation that runs a Children and Young People’s Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Rotherham and Doncaster, said: “We welcome this announcement along with our health, education and social care partners in Rotherham and Doncaster.

“We already provide a level of early mental health advice and support to children and young people attending schools and colleges in these areas but additional investment positively impacts on the service we deliver and enables us to increase the support on offer.   The investment will also allow us to see children and young people more quickly in our existing services. 

“We are proud to be part of a  ‘trailblazer’ for mental health support in schools.”

Each designated team will support up to 8,000 children and young people and will be responsible for a cluster of around 20 schools and colleges each, depending on their size.

The teams will build on support already in place from school counsellors, nurses, educational psychologists and the voluntary sector to treat those with mild to moderate mental health issues in school and will help children and young people with more severe needs to access the right support and provide a link to specialist NHS services. 

Education Secretary Damian Hinds said: 

“Children today experience pressures that we as adults often find hard to appreciate, or possibly even understand. We are much more aware of mental health in the education sector now than in decades gone by and rightly so, and teachers are often able to recognise the early warning signs of changes in their pupils’ behaviour or mood, but they are not mental health professionals. That’s why through these new support teams working with schools, we will speed up access to specialist services and make expert advice available to those who need it the most. 

“We want to build on the range of excellent work that already takes place in schools and colleges. Supporting good mental health goes hand-in-hand with equipping young people with the qualifications, knowledge and resilience they need to live a fulfilling adult life. I want to make sure that our children are able to grow up to become happy and well-rounded individuals well set to deal with the challenges of the modern world. By making health education a required part of the curriculum -  teaching what good mental and physical health looks like, the important links between the two and how to seek help when needed - we will help to give young people the tools they need to be ready to thrive when they leave school.” 

Minister for Mental Health, Inequalities and Suicide Prevention, Jackie Doyle-Price said:

“Early intervention is crucial when it comes to mental ill-health and today’s announcement will ensure that young people can immediately access life-changing support when the signs of mental health issues first appear, helping to prevent these problems from escalating further into adulthood.

“Encouraging young people to think about their mental wellbeing in the same way they do their physical aches and pains is a vital part of our goal to put mental and physical health on equal footing and will help ensure no young person is left to suffer in silence. 

“It’s estimated one in four of us has a common mental disorder at any one time – I’m confident that by introducing improved access to critical care at a young age we are delivering on our promise to help people lead healthier lives for longer and build an NHS that’s fit for the future, which will be set out further in our Long-Term Plan.”

The Department for Education will also fund training for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges – working to ensure a ‘whole school’ approach to mental health and wellbeing. 

These leads will work closely with the Mental Health Support Teams to ensure children and young people get the right help as soon as possible including harnessing new technology.  

The trailblazer sites are made up of the NHS and key local stakeholders, including schools and colleges, local authorities and third sector organisations and will be rolled out to between one-fifth and one quarter of the country by 2023/24. 

Plans for further expansion of children and young people’s mental health services will be set out in the Long-Term Plan for the NHS. 

Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s National Mental Health Director said: 

“There is an enormous amount of work underway to support children and young people when they experience mental health difficulties. Working in partnership with colleagues in education such as school nurses and educational psychologists, this will improve the mental health support and provision on offer and we look forward to seeing the results over the next few years.” 

The 25 trailblazer areas are: 

North: 

• North Kirklees CCG and Greater Huddersfield CCG
• Northumberland CCG
• Doncaster CCG and Rotherham CCG
• Newcastle Gateshead CCG
• South Tyneside CCG
• Liverpool CCG
• Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership 

Midlands and East: 

• Herts Valley CCG and East and North Hertfordshire CCG
• Stoke on Trent CCG
• Nottingham North East CCG and Rushcliffe CCG
• South Warwickshire CCG
• North Staffordshire CCG 

South West: 

• Gloucestershire CCG
• Swindon CCG 

South East: 

• North Kent CCG Grouping: Swale CCG and Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley CCG
• Berkshire West CCG
• Oxfordshire CCG
• Buckinghamshire CCG 

London:

• SW London HCP – Wandsworth, Sutton and Merton CCGs
• Tower Hamlets CCG
• West London CCG
• Haringey CCG
• Bromley CCG
• Camden CCG
• Hounslow CCG

News story from: Doncaster Council www.doncaster.gov.uk