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Understanding Children and Young People’s Mental Health

Key Fact

Enhanced training for staff working with children and young people
would lead to greater professional awareness of the impact of
trauma, abuse or neglect on mental health.

Source: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/
uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/414024/
Childrens_Mental_Health.pdf

Children in care – that is children who are looked after – are more likely to get into
trouble with the police and be cautioned. There are a number of reasons for this.
One reason is that the trauma they’ve experienced has led to emotional, social
and behavioural difficulties that can be hard for the carers to deal with.

Whereas in the average family home, the police would not be called if the child or
young person broke things during an argument, in residential care settings this
may happen if the behaviour caused whilst the young person is distressed and
angry becomes difficult to cope with. In some areas, the police are working with
residential care providers to reduce this occurrence, and staff may need further
training and guidance in supporting the young people in different ways to prevent
the offending behaviour from occurring.

The range of services that may be required to support positive
mental health in children and young people

A range of staff work with children and young people in relation to their mental health
and well-being. Some work in what are known as universal settings, such as schools,
early years services and primary care (GPs). These professionals include teachers,
youth workers, health visitors, practice nurses and GPs.

Others work in what are known as targeted mental health services, such as
specialist paediatric psychologists in hospitals, early help interventions provided
by local authorities for families in difficulties, looked after children’s teams and
the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service teams, known as CAMHS.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is the term used to
encompass a range of services for children who have emotional or behavioural
difficulties. These services vary from area to area.

These services could be from the statutory, voluntary or school-based sectors, and
could be supplied by the NHS, charitable organisations or local authorities.

Specialist CAMHS are NHS mental health services where multi-disciplinary teams
provide a range of services focusing on different aspects of the problem. A child
may see any member of the team at first for assessment purposes, but may
become involved with others as their needs become clearer and depending
on the severity of their problem.

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