How We’re Investing in Young Peoples’ Mental Health
That’s why we’re investing more into young people’s mental health to help children get the best possible start in life.
Read on below to find out more about what we’re doing to help mental health in the UK.
Our New Mental Health Policy to Support Pupils
All schools and colleges in England will be offered mental health training as part of our commitment to giving mental health the same priority as physical health. Starting in September, the training will be rolled out to up to all schools and colleges over the next four years.
Training will be introduced in areas with Mental Health Support Teams first. These Teams link schools and colleges with local young people’s mental health services. The first 25 trailblazer areas were announced in December, with a further 48 announced this month.
Together, Mental Health Support Teams and this additional training for teachers will ensure pupils will be able to get the mental health support they need, when they need it.
We’re Providing More Mental Health Training for Schools
To deliver this as part of our mental health policy, we are providing £9.3 million in funding to organise workshops which bring together school and college staff and NHS professionals.
These workshops are designed to raise awareness of mental health concerns and improve referrals to specialist help when needed. And all schools will be able to get this help within the next four years.
We’re also introducing mandatory health education lessons from 2020. This will ensure pupils are taught about the benefits of a healthier lifestyle and how to build mental resilience. It’ll also cover how to recognize common signs of mental illness and how to cope and react in the modern world.
This is part of our wider program to support young people’s mental health, which includes an additional £1.4 billion investment into our mental health policy. And on top of this, we’re investing £300 million over the next three years to deliver the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Green Paper, to do even more to help young people get the mental health support they need.
Our Mental Health Policy is Starting to Work
This Government has made mental health services a priority. Alongside the record funding we’re giving mental health services, we are making sure that, by next year, every patient who arrives at A&E in England with a mental health emergency will have instant access to psychiatric help.
Starting in 2019, we’re publishing a ‘State of the Nation’ report every year on World Mental Health Day, to highlight the issues with young people’s mental health. This is the first report ever of its kind.
And we’ve appointed the UK’s first Minister for Suicide Prevention, Jackie Doyle-Price, who will help lead our efforts to cut the number of suicides and overcome the stigma that stops people seeking help. Since starting her role, the Minister has been working closely with national and local government, experts in suicide and self-harm prevention, and those personally affected by suicide to create effective suicide prevention plans in the UK.
Since coming to government, we have protected the health service now and for generations to come. We have committed to investing over £33.9 billion more a year by 2023-24 as part of our long term NHS plan. And as a result, NHS funding is now at record levels.
We are able to invest more in the NHS thanks to our balanced approach to the economy. More people are now in work than ever before, wages are growing faster than inflation for the sixteenth month in a row, and the fundamentals of the British economy remain robust. To find out more, click here for five things you need to know about how the UK economy is strong.