Mental health support to be offered in schools

Mental health services will be offered in schools as part of a transformation of the treatment of mental illness in young people.

Children in England will be able to access mental health support at school or college under the £300 million government overhaul that will increase support and provide earlier access to services.

Under the plan every school and college in England will be encouraged to designate a ‘senior lead’ that will coordinate with existing support services. They will be responsible for ensuring all pupils have access to pastoral support and that effective policies are in place to tackle bullying and other behaviours which cause mental distress.

They will be backed by the creation of new mental health support teams to improve links between schools and the NHS, as well as provide specialist support and treatments in or near schools and colleges.

Over the next five years, ministers say they expect to recruit ‘several thousand’ people to the teams who could be trained to offer cognitive behaviour therapy and other treatments in the classroom.

The government is proposing to provide £215 million over the next three years to fund the teams, with a further £95 million for the training of the senior leads.

Jeremy Hunt, Health Secretary, told ITV: “This is an additional commitment of money that we are making to the NHS, because on the steps of Downing Street, Theresa May said that dealing with the burning injustice of poor mental health provisions is one of her top priorities and she has made this happen.

“It's going to cost £300 million over the next three years, but it will ramp up, and at its full status it will probably be at least £300 million a year.”

Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, said: “Schools are the best place to make early intervention work and the best hubs for its expansion.

“The question remains whether the funding that has been announced will be enough. We welcome what there is and will keep an eye on how this might be spent in the long term.

"There is no point having designated mental health leads assessing pupils that come to them, only to find if they need further specialist help, there is still nowhere they can be referred.”

Bernadka Dubicka, from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “One of the biggest problems we see is that children who don't meet thresholds for mental health treatment often fall through the gaps. It is really promising to see the government looking to tackle this.”