Our Children and Young Person’s Mental Health Report captures the views of children and young people in County Durham.
Healthwatch County Durham wanted to hear from children and young people about mental health. Prior to the research, we knew that mainstream services were stretched and this had been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, we took the approach of looking at a grass roots level; what do children and young people understand about mental health, what are their self-care and, if they could have just one thing to better support their mental health and wellbeing, what would that be?
Over the course of 2021 we engaged with over 900 children and young people with a wide range of activities and focus groups, online, face-to-face in social settings and in classrooms. We were greeted with honesty and an overwhelming sense of resilience, understanding and empathy.
The Health and Social Care Committee recognises that service improvement is required and plans are afoot to transform children and young person’s mental health services, with more timely access and increased funding. Healthwatch County Durham’s next steps will focus on how we can enable others to better support our children and young people, through sharing best practice and evidence-based self-help, while working closely with partner organisations and monitoring the County Durham situation.
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