What role does the VCS play in supporting CYP mental health?

Emma Rigby, Chief Executive, Association for Young People’s Health

Challenges

• Diversity of sector and changes in services due to cuts can lead to lack of understanding about what VCS does to support CYP mental health

• How we evidence the impact of what we do and measure outcomes

• Supporting staff to recognise CYP emotional health and wellbeing needs

• Providing staff with skills to recognise when a child or young person needs more support & referring on

• Being small – being overlooked alongside larger providers

A sector supporting CYP emotional and mental health in different ways

• Service provision – from prevention to providing information through to specialist services

• Informing planning of services

• Advocating for improvements

Service provision

• Preventing / alleviating emotional distress and mental health problems – positive activity, trusted relationships with adults, role models

• Providing information to CYP and families about mental wellbeing

• Supporting / advocating for children, young people and their families to access services

Service provision cont..

• Supporting self management and health literacy

• Facilitating peer support networks / activities

• Delivering mental health services counselling, CYP IAPT and one stop shop provision

Services can enable VCS to

• Identify early a child or young persons emotional and mental health needs

• Signpost or refer a child or young person to the right support at the right time

• Ensure effective support from schools, health and other statutory services through good partnership working

• Advocate for better more coordinated services locally and nationally

Promoting wellbeing and resilience

• Promoting positive mental wellbeing and tackling bullying (links with schools)

• Making GP services more accessible to YP

• Promoting awareness about CYP mental health

• Managing the risks of new technologies – harnessing potential of technology to support CYP Mental health

Planning the right services for children and young people

• Understanding what children and young people want

• Advocating for local areas to include CYP Mental health as a priority in JSNA’s etc.

• Sharing information and data as part of local commissioning processes

Engagement with CYP

• Supporting effective involvement with CYP – co-design etc…

• Effective engagement with vulnerable and marginalised children and young people

• Supporting development of self-care

• Challenging all services to ensure they are listening and responding to what CYP say

Current initiatives:evidence and data

Social and emotional learning - EIF“Compared with cognitive ability when a child is aged 10, social and emotional skills matter more for general mental wellbeing”

5 ways to wellbeing – New Economics FoundationConnect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning, Give

Data sources to support actionKey Data on Adolescence 2015 – AYPH; ChiMat – local profiles, CAMHS dataset; PHE – Young People’s Health and Wellbeing Framework, Resilience work

Current initiatives:training, directories..

• Royal Society for Public Health – Youth Health Champions

• Mental Health First Aid for young people

• Mind Ed free for all adults – www.minded.org.uk

• Youth Wellbeing Directory - youthwellbeingdirectory.com

Youth Health Champions Level 2 Certificate (Accredited)Age 14-25

Content:• Understand the causes and

consequences of unhealthy behaviours

• Be able to provide help and support, including signposting

• Acquire knowledge of local services• Deliver a health promotion campaign• Specialise in one health improvement

topic

Peer Mentoring1,000 Youth Health Champions to be trained and deployed in disadvantaged areas during 2015-18Contact: paul.jarvis@streetgames.org

The reasons that peer education has proved so effective are: • Young people themselves find peer approaches very acceptable • The process of becoming a peer educator is personally developmental • Receiving advice from a peer is empowering• Programmes are relatively inexpensive to set up and, due to the investment in

the volunteer workforce, have built-in sustainability• Peer education bypasses the resistance to ‘professional’ messages and

messengers

The evaluations have highlighted some limitations: • Peer educators are not a substitute for specialist health services • Not everyone is suited to be a peer educator • Particularly emotive issues, such as abortion or suicide, are difficult for peer

educators to support

Mental Health First Aid – Youth

Introduction (3 hours) Minimum Age: 16• discuss the discrimination surrounding mental health issues• define mental health• understand other people's experiences• look after your own mental health

Full Course (2 days)Minimum Age: 16• comprehensive look at the most common conditions• understand signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety, suicide and psychosis,

self-harm and eating disorders• how youth projects can help and support• confidence to talk about mental health• practical skills to support young people experiencing stress or mental ill-health.

Contact: paul.jarvis@streetgames.org

Increased recognition and support

We must• improve recognition of what the VCS does to support

CYP mental health from prevention, supporting resilience to counselling and treatment in holistic and accessible settings

• ensure that the children and young people’s voluntary sector accesses the support and training needed to provide high quality support

• improve understanding about how provision in the VCS for CYP can be more accessible to those children and young people who are most vulnerable

Emma Rigby: emma@youngpeopleshealth.org.ukDominic Weinberg: dominic@ncvys.org.uk

Paul Jarvis: paul.jarvis@streetgames.org

follow us on Twitter @YPHealth

@AYPHcharitywww.ayph.org.uk