Children and young people's mental health

Providing care to children and young people with mental health problems has been a growing challenge within UK healthcare for many years. The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly escalated this issue into a national crisis which has been further exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis.

The latest data (NHS Digital 2024) for referrals to Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) showed they are at an all-time high, with over 500,000 referrals being made by the end of December 2023.

NHS data revealed that the cost-of-living crisis is disproportionately impacting young people with mental health problems, with over 50% of young people with mental health problems now from families where at least one parent is struggling to keep up with money.

Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Programme

The RCN Foundation has funded a series of projects and research initiatives to respond to the mental health needs of children, young people and the nursing staff who support them. This three-year programme, launched in March 2022, supports nursing-led interventions that improve care for children and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing.

The programme is based on the findings of a 2020 scoping review into early nurse-led interventions for children and young people’s mental health by Sheffield Hallam University.

We have funded the development of an online toolkit of bespoke resources that will support registered nurses and midwives, who are not registered mental health nurses such as school nurses, health visitors and emergency care nurses to better support mental health and wellbeing among children and young people. 

Central to the toolkit is the HAMHA App, which supports nurses and midwives to assess children and young people’s mental health as well as directing them to the next stages of support and care.

The toolkit will be supported by a Massive Online Open Access Course (MOOC) being delivered by the University of York to introduce CYP MH and including the use of HAMHA to a range of stakeholders.

We have also partnered with The Leathersellers’ Foundation to provide education grants to non-specialist nurses pursuing postgraduate qualifications to support children and young people’s mental health care.