Plans to improve mental health support for children and young people in Scotland are ‘positive and ambitious,’ says BACP.
A delivery plan on how to improve services was today published by a taskforce set up to review Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Scotland.
Its recommendations include:
- Cutting the target waiting time for specialist CAMHS treatment by a third, to 12 weeks.
- Providing children, young people and families with better information on how the system works and what to expect.
- Treating more children and young people in community settings, rather than automatically referring them to CAMHS.
The Scottish Government has also announced £4 million of funding to pay for 80 new mental health professionals to work with children and young people.
These new staff will support improvements to mental health care and help reduce pressure on CAMHS.
We should be ambitious
Steve Mulligan, BACP four nations policy and engagement lead, said:
“These are positive and ambitious plans that will help push forward vital improvements in the support and treatment of children and young people with mental health problems in Scotland.
“We should be ambitious when it comes to improving young people’s mental health. These plans to drastically cut down waiting times and the commitment to further funding for additional staff highlight how seriously this issue is being taken in Scotland. We hope this acts as an example to other governments.
“Today’s announcement complements the commitments for counselling already made by the Scottish Government, ensuring all young people have access to much more urgent support.”
In September, the Scottish Government announced it will invest £80 million over the next four years in providing counsellors in education, including £60 million to fund counsellors in all secondary schools.