Mental health struggles

New results from The Children's Society's latest poll reveal how stark the crisis in children’s mental health has become. Two in five parents (41%) who sought help for their child reported that they did not receive the help that they needed.
This last week was Children’s mental health week – a time to shine a light on the challenges young people are facing. Too many teenagers, in particular, are struggling with their mental health. Long waiting lists and overstretched services mean children are being left to struggle alone, and over half of parents (52%) according to their poll, agree that these barriers are preventing children from getting the support they desperately need.

We've certainly found some of this research to be true for our son. Anthony was already registered with CAMHS and under the supervision of clinical psychologist when his mental health took a turn for the worse.  The journey to and from school, changing lessons and again at bedtime were his worse parts of the day.  He spoke to us about it and after looking into the some mental health apps he said he'd prefer to speak to a person just like Sam did on 'Atypcial' a show he liked watching at the time.  He found it very relatable. 

We were fortunate enough to be able to get in touch with a local charity called Skylarks who worked with Off the Record, a local therapy service and were able to arrange within about 6 weeks for Anthony to attend speaking therapy sessions.  We also did other things like getting noise cancelling headphones and clothing that made Anthony feel safe outside the house.  

We attended a routine appointment with CAMHS where Anthony spoke of his difficulties and we said about what we had managed to organise.  His clinical psychologist was relieved when we said we'd managed to arrange some talking therapy because, "you would be waiting a long time" before it could be accessed through the NHS.  This was disturbing as Anthony was already registered with CAMHS and shows how difficult this could be for someone who had not.

Anthony told us he looked for answers on TikTok. Some of it was helpful and some not.  The information he was getting was definitely unregulated and we were lucky enough that he talked to us about what he was seeing.  I still find it troubling, some of what was being suggested online. 

Anthony is doing better at the moment.  He stopped his talking therapy a little while ago and is back out doing things he enjoys.  But we still ask him every day how his day has gone and how he is feeling.   I'm not sure how this post should end, perhaps as it's ongoing.  I'm just happy he is happy at the moment and grateful that he's not struggled to access help in the way many others have. 

The Children's Society offer a variety support along with other charities aimed at supporting young people with their mental health such as Young Minds.