The theme for this year's Children's Mental Health Week is 'growing together.' The emphasis is on how children can help other children to grow, learn how to cope and support one another. Specialist Services Director, Sarah Wilson and Clinical Director for Children's Services/Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr Cathy Lavelle lead ELFT's Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. In this interview we ask them about some of key issues facing young people today and what helps.
Thinking about this year's theme, do you think children and young people can help their peers to address mental health difficulties?
Cathy: Definitely. Young people often want to support one another. They will tell each other things that they might not tell their parents, guardians, teachers or professionals. It's really beneficial for the young person struggling, but also for the young person supporting them. Like all of us, they want to be useful and helpful, and share what has helped them. It gives them a sense of agency and avoids the over-medicalisation of everyday concerns.
Sarah: Supporting one another also plays a part in building a caring society and lays the foundations for how young people can deal with issues, listen, be empathetic, check-in with people and look after each other. It lifts the stigma around mental health. Nowadays, many children and young people are much more open and open to talking about how they are feeling.
The COVID pandemic has been particularly challenging for children and young people with school disruption, difficulty finding space and resources to learn and study, social isolation, family dynamics, social media, etc. How are you seeing this being reflected in referrals?
Cathy: The pandemic has been especially tough for some young people. And their families. We have definitely seen an increase in the need for crisis services and eating disorder services as has been widely reported. So we have focused on having the right structures in place, so that young people and parents/guardians have the right service, at the right time in the right place if they need professional support.
Sarah: We don't provide any of our services or interventions in a bubble on our own - we work really closely with parents, with schools, youth leaders, primary care with local councils and with local organisations that can jointly support the young person and their family. An example of this is an initiative happening in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes where the young people are working on a 'year of engagement' project. They will be using art, music and sport to engage with their peers. We also had a “It’s All About Me” event in East London which led to the development of a series of I statements created by Children and Young people – to guide our priorities and test out our services against.
We’re also really excited about the co-production work going on with Young people and parents in the development of our new Interim CAMHS In patient Unit, Evergreen, for Bedfordshire Luton and Milton Keynes which is now being developed on the Luton mental health site and will be open in Autumn.
Are there things that adults can do to support the young people in their lives that make a difference?
Sarah: We take our cue from the young people themselves and the families that have used our services to mould our services to be what they need to be. They are best placed to know what should be in place, how and when. Our people participation work which involves people who use or have used CAMHS services, is vital as it is how we learn how our services feel and how we can optimise what we do. They teach the professionals. One size won't fit all but what is clear from their feedback is that having support and input at an early stage is vital to reduce growing distress and provide the young person and their family with the tools to cope, to manage the situation and to move forward.
We have a huge desire to provide help earlier, so this is a key focus, In addition to mainstream CAMHS support, we have had a CAMHS Schools offer in each of the areas we work in for some time now. Its integrated with local services and builds on local resources/needs and works with individual school communities.
Cathy: There are a range of ways that we can support young people. Spotting issues early is key so that is why our strong relationships and partnership with schools is so important as they see up close how individual children are doing, and spot those struggling. In schools now, you will find mental health champions, hubs that young people can go to, groups run by young people themselves, and a culture for talking about mental health. We are basing CAMHS staff in schools so that professional support is immediately available. Adults who want to support young people can listen and give the young people in their lives space to express what's happening for them, empathise with them and identify with the young person what would help. We all need to be able to download and not store up worries and concerns.
We also have to focus on Children and Young people with the most complex needs so we have expanded CAMHS Crisis services in London and Beds and Luton, as well as investing in Eating Disorder support and trying to support young people as much as possible in the community rather than having to go into hospital.
How have CAMHS staff and health professionals coped during the pandemic?
Cathy: Staff have had to adapt to new ways of working, new ways of communicating and had to adapt their skills to support families. They have had to find new ways to support one another which is an important part of working in this field.
Sarah: Our staff have been utterly amazing but they are tired. They have gone over and above what we expected. They have great passion for working with young people. I think the next steps are to ... recover, reflect, think about how we challenge inequalities and improve the quality of the care we give.
Thank you to all our staff, and all the young people and families who help us to do better.
You can find out how other organisations are marking this week below:
https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/
https://nowandbeyond.org.uk/
https://www.empathy-week.com/
https://www.place2be.org.uk/about-us/children-s-mental-health-week/