HEALTH COACH - "Bright stigma begins with simple conversations": addressing the mental health crisis in children | Network of health professionals

HEALTH COACH -

 "Bright stigma begins with simple conversations": addressing the mental health crisis in children | Network of health professionals   
 

   P   The public concern about the mental health of children and adolescents reaches a record level. Prime Minister Theresa May announced in January her intention to better identify and help the growing number of youth in schools at risk of developing mental health problems. Prince Harry and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge meanwhile use their profiles to convince the public that "the widespread stigma of mental health begins with simple conversations." 

 And yet, despite a growing awareness of the problem, child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs) are under increasing pressure. Health professionals lamented a lack of resources and staff, while health secretary Jeremy Hunt called Camhs "the largest area of ​​weakness in the NHS provision." 

 
 What are the problems facing children and young people today? What are the problems with services? What examples of best practice and how can the health, education and social care sectors provide better mental health care for children and youth? Here are some of the issues addressed by mental health experts at a round table chaired by the publisher of Guardian Health Policy Denis Campbell and supported by the XenZone online consulting service. 
 "For children, there are so many messages about what it takes to be, what to look like, how you should show up to the world, it is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and Social media judge most things, "said Anne Longfield OBE, children's commissioner in England." There is anxiety around examinations, schools and increasingly linear expectations. Let everything grow. "
 Sarah Hulyer, an activist with YoungMinds, the youth mental health charity, agreed that exams and stress are part of the problem. She also talked about the considerable impact of social media on youth mental health. "I think social media is negative in many ways in the sense that your public life never ends. You are always monitored," she said. 
 Hulyer pointed out that social media can glamorous mental health problems and stressed how important it is to start a conversation about mental health at a young age. "Many young people get to know about mental health in the media, but often the only things we talk about are anxiety and depression," she said. "The young people do not know [the range of] the problems that there are until they have explained them." 
 Participants also discussed the problems facing the services. Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat MP and former Minister of Mental Health, said: "We are faced with a dysfunctional system with horrible access, which leads people to take their own lives. We will not solve the whole problem if we focus on the treatment system. It must be prevention and a radical change of emphasis. "
 Most agreed that there were significant problems facing the workforce of Camhs. "We do not have enough manpower available with enough morale to deal with the problem," said Dr. Bernadka Dubicka, Educational Psychologist and Adolescent and President-Elect of the Faculty of Children and Adolescents , Royal College of Psychiatrists. She believes that there are a large number of children and teenagers who could have been helped before being sent back to Camhs. 

 
 Sean Duggan, executive director of the Mental Health Network of the NHS Confederation, said the importance of child and youth mental health has not been properly recognized in Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) that have been written to improve health and care in England. "PTS are here to stay and are a way to prioritize," he added, adding that the mental health of children and adolescents is an urgent priority that needs to be addressed. 
 Although many around the table highlighted the role that schools can play in reducing mental health problems among students, Malcolm Trobe CBE, Secretary General of the Association of School and College Leaders, Stressed that there is a gap between what schools can do and their access to external support. 
 "Teachers have pressures on workload - they just do not have time [to offer additional support]," he said. But he also asked where children with mental health problems would receive additional support: "We must move from this topic to actually doing something. Ministries of health and education need to work together to have a strategic vision of this. "
 While the majority of those present deplored the state of mental health services for children and adolescents in the United Kingdom, Dr. Matt Muijen, an international mental health counselor, painted a different picture. "There is an unusual publicity about bad mental health in England. It creates a demand," he said. 
 "When you look at the supply side, you have remarkably good standards. There is no separate budget for children 's mental health, but you are the second largest funder of Mental health services after the Netherlands. "In proportion to the health budget, you are by far the highest." He criticized local authorities for their inability to order services, adding: "I still feel that Health services in England are constantly changing, with a total lack of Stability without anyone knowing what they should do. "
 Given the enormous demand for services, participants agreed that action was needed and provided possible solutions and examples of best practices. Elaine Bousfield, founder and president of XenZone, suggested that a digital approach could help, as long as it is linked to the general system of health care and social care. 
 Bousfield talked about XenZone's online counseling platform and emotional well-being for children and youth. It is used by them to talk to someone - usually for one to three sessions. "The beauty is that they are not then ruminating and add to their anxiety," she said. "Often young people do not know what is going on, they feel terrible and maybe they do not know why .. They need a space where they can talk about it." 
 Hulyer said that much of the solution lies in the digital world, because that is how young people communicate. She said that young people have a desperate view of Camhs and do not think the services will ever be there for them. She stressed the importance of learning mental health at school and how it should be part of the curriculum. "You get to know physical health, so you should know about resilience; How to cope with stress. "Hulyer also said that parents need support and talked about a line of assistance put in place by YoungMinds that they can ask for information and advice. 
 Dr. Emma Blake, Pediatric Mental Health Consultant and Chair of the Children's Mental Health Committee of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, also highlighted MindEd, an online adult service designed to provide high- Help and Information on Children and Children Mental Health in Adolescents. 
 Lamb and Duggan cited some areas of the country where services are working well to address the mental health of children and adolescents. In Oxfordshire, mental health professionals attend schools every week and work with teachers to better understand. Lamb said that they had seen a drop in referrals to Camhs because they intervene much earlier. 
 In Northamptonshire, a reference management center was developed in 2015, which includes a youth and family consultation line, a courier service offered by school nurses, an online chat for youth to talk To a mental health professional, referral, a home child crisis treatment team and two hospital wards for teenagers. Duggan also highlighted a new program at Sussex Partnership's NHS Foundation Trust - The Discovery College. 
 The concept is based on the existing college of recovery, which includes free courses developed and delivered by health professionals. The college of discovery applies the same principles to children and young people. It involves free classes for youth aged 13 to 20 years, providing knowledge and skills to maintain and manage mental health. 
 Despite these positive patterns, there is always frustration about the lack of action in relation to the tone of conversation about the mental health of children. 
 During his time in government, Lamb produced a master plan for mental health services, Future in Mind, which brought together a number of key proposals. Two years later, the government is producing a green paper on the same subject. "This is an excuse to keep talking instead of doing," he said. "I told the health secretary to create incentives around the country to make urgent progress.The Green Paper can bring some value but we have to do what we said we were going to do. 

 Denis Campbell  (chairman) 
 Health Policy Editor, The Guardian 

  Anne Longfield OBE 
  Children's Commissioner for the United Kingdom 

  Noman Lamb MP 
  Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson 
 This is the latest version of the Liberal Democrat,
  Miranda Wolpert MBE 
  Director, Evidence-based Unit of Practice, UCL and Anna Freud Center 
  Dr. Emma Blake 
  Chair, Children's Mental Health Committee, Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health 

  Dr. Bernadka Dubicka 
  President-elect, Faculty of Childhood and Adolescence, Royal College of Psychiatrists 

  Sean Duggan 
  Director General, Mental Health Network, NHS Confederation 

  Elaine Bousfield 
  Founder and president, XenZone 
  Sarah Hulyer 
  Activist, YoungMinds 

Tony Hunter   Director General, Social Care Institute for Excellence 

  Dr. Matt Muijen 
  International mental health counselor 
 Additional information about this offer can be purchased on request.
  Charlotte Ramsden 
  Chair, Policy Committee on Health, Care and Additional Needs, ADCS 

  Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard 
  President, Royal College of General Practitioners 

  Malcolm Trobe CBE 
  Secretary General (Interim), Association of School and College Leaders