Teenage mental health public meeting report

Access to mental health services for young people are particularly problematic, both locally and nationally; at the same time, mental health issues for children and young people are on the increase. Mental health is stigmatised, and children and young people are especially vulnerable and hard to reach. Healthwatch North Somerset recommends that access to mental health services in North Somerset is addressed as a priority.

The meeting was held at the Methodist Church, Nailsea, on 28th April 2014 at 6.30pm. Consideration was given to the time and location of the event, as Healthwatch North Somerset acknowledge that any chosen time or location could exclude part of the population. To ensure Healthwatch North Somerset meetings are widely accessible to the public Healthwatch North Somerset seeks to ensure public meetings vary in terms of time, weekday and venue.

The Healthwatch North Somerset Teenage Mental Health public meeting illustrated just how widespread mental health issues are for young people and the depth of concern in North Somerset. The speakers and public both raised the major concern of lack of funding for young people’s mental health services locally and nationally, and the consequential extremely long waiting times and very strict criteria for access. The issue of integration of health and social services needing to work better together for the best outcomes was also raised. There is a lot of work that could be done in and with schools, around prevention and early recognition, leading to early intervention, but again, for this to happen, resources are needed.