Coalition of charities warn of mental health ticking timebomb
The Scottish Government must appoint a dedicated minister for mental health, a coalition of independent and third sector children and young people’s groups has demanded.
To coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week, the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC) has highlighted research that shows one in 10 children aged between five and 16 have a clinically diagnosable mental health problem.
Half of all diagnosable mental health problems start before the age of 14, the coalition said, but warned services are underfunded with only 0.46% of NHS Scotland expenditure spent on child and adolescent mental health (CAMHS).
A spokesperson for the SCSC warned of a ticking timebomb and called on Nicola Sturgeon to make the issue a key focus by launching a new mental health strategy.
We would not expect a child with a broken arm or another physical health problem to wait a year for treatment
“It is vital that the first minister makes mental health, especially for our children and young people, a key priority of her new administration,” the spokesperson said.
“There can be no greater signal to reflect this than a dedicated mental health minister and to give mental health parity of esteem with physical health, with greatly increased investment in mental health services.
“As we mark Mental Health Awareness Week we are sitting on a ticking timebomb of mental health problems, simply storing these up for the future if we don’t address them now.
“We would not expect a child with a broken arm or another physical health problem to wait a year for treatment, or routinely travel hundreds of miles to get the help they need. But all too often, this is the situation facing children and young people struggling with mental ill health.”
The SCSC’s call comes just after the NUS Scotland released figures on the state of the mental wellbeing of Scottish students.
The statistics showed a 47% rise over four years in the number of students trying to access mental health support services.
Furthermore, they show that some institutions have experienced a rise of up to 70% in students enquiring about mental health services, while more than one in eight of those who enquired about their mental health did not receive support.
SCSC is calling for funding and resources to be targeted at prevention and early intervention as this will ensure early diagnosis and treatment, addressing the social and economic costs of allowing issues to embed over time.
The SCSC spokesperson added: “In the run up to the election the political parties pledged to put mental health front and centre of their objectives.
“Our newly elected MSPs must now stick to their word and the first minister should drive this forward, making mental health a key platform of this government.
“While we welcome what the Scottish Government has already done in this area, it is evident that much more needs to be done to tackle the increasing numbers of young people with mental health problems.”
