Children and Young People’s Views of Mental Health

Healthwatch County Durham wanted to look at young people's views on mental health.  They spoke to 219 young people aged 14 - 25.

Children and young people said they would benefit from being able to talk to a person with lived experience of childhood or adolescent trauma - a supportive adult who could understand, empathise, and suggest coping strategies. As a child or young person, reaching out and receiving mental health support is a difficult journey that can make the young person feel judged, stigmatised, and discriminated against. 

The system of mental health support is often confusing, fragmented, and difficult for a young person to navigate. Often, it is left to the young person themselves to negotiate a complex system to find the appropriate support. For those dealing with past or ongoing trauma, this can be especially difficult, and long waiting times and negative experiences of support are sometimes severe enough to cause a child or young person’s mental health to deteriorate further. 

When children and young people are seeking information and advice, they want to go to people they know and trust, like family members and friends - people who are not necessarily being ‘paid to care’. These family members or friends may then ask for help on the young person's behalf. Once the young person has reached the age of 18, there’s often insistence that a request comes directly from the young person, which many find challenging. A person with lived experience or a young people’s advocate would be able to provide guidance here, removing one of the barriers to accessing support. 

Children and young people said that many of them have a family member dealing with mental health concerns of their own. Often the children and young people would rather not discuss their own mental health issues through fear of causing even more stress to their family member. The adult experiencing poor mental health can feel guilty, thinking they have passed on their mental health issues, as well as not feeling equipped to help and support their child. They may seek advice from their own mental health support worker, but these would not be a specialist in children’s services.

There is growing concern about mental health in the minds of children and young people. They told us they want to express their feelings and be open about their mental health and would like encouragement and support from all those around them. We heard there is a lack of places of education promoting and encouraging speaking out on emotional wellbeing. Children and young people want a space to talk with other people who understand due to their own lived experiences.

Children and young people need to have the confidence to ask for support and to know where to go for this.