This article was written by Damian and published in this week's editions of the Herald and Petersfield Post:
"Next week is Children’s Mental Health Week, and talking about mental health is thankfully something that is now done openly and with purpose, enabling issues impacting young people to be better understood and tackled.
The pressures can be immense and overwhelming – family, friendships, studying, and of course social media, with all the expectations that can bring. And we know that the isolation experienced during the pandemic has been acute for some.
Helping young people to navigate these issues is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and what works for one person does not necessarily make a difference for another.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are the NHS service that aims to help those up to the age of 18 who are finding it hard to manage their emotional and psychological health, and who are suffering with acute, chronic and severe mental health problems.
CAMHS have community teams across the Hampshire area with expertise in working with children and young people, and referrals can help support those with anxiety, depression and eating disorders, or young people experiencing bullying, bereavement or relationship breakdowns, alongside many other issues.
But there are other local services too. Havant and East Hants Mind have recently announced a new partnership project in Leigh Park – a drop in, youth club style service called The Lighthouse for those aged 10 -18 - and closer to home the King’s Arms charity has sites in both Petersfield and Alton that offer a range of different clubs for different age groups, including after school clubs, mentoring sessions as well as 1 to 1 wellbeing support.
Schools can often be the place where individual issues are picked up and Mental Health Support Teams are working with schools in priority areas to offer resource and capacity for early intervention and help for mild to moderate mental health issues.
When I was Education Secretary, one especially innovative approach brought to my attention for younger children was from Sussex and Hampshire CAMHS, who had developed their programme in partnership with one of our primary schools here in East Hampshire. To head off problems occurring in the first place, it encouraged children to look at the wide range of activities that could help them relieve stress and just be themselves.
And recognising the value of outdoor education, news this week from the South Downs National Park Trust on a new round of funding for schools to apply for support when planning trips this summer is welcome.
With so many organisations now offering remote support it can be difficult to know where to start. There is the established phone support offered by major charities such as the Samaritans and Childline, but also other online services such as The Mix, that not only offers 1 to 1 support but also access to groups chats and discussion boards that individuals can choose to use.
The 24 hour text messaging service offered by the Young Minds charity is another service that young people can turn to if they need support; a facility run by their partnering Shout charity, which last week reached the milestone of 1 million conversations since launching in May 2019.
There is also a wide range of self help websites and apps, including the wellbeing ‘Happy Me in 123’ app from Hampshire-based Solent Mind, which has recently been expanded to support teenagers with tips and interactive activities to help them gain a stronger understanding of their own mental health.
The directness and immediacy of web-based help is clear, but protecting young people online remains important and something I am focused on in my role as Security Minister.
Safer Internet Day also takes place next week, coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre. It is a day marked in more than one hundred countries, and celebrated this year with the theme ‘All fun and games?’ exploring respect and relationships online.
An opportunity to promote a wider discussion on how technology can be used both responsibly and respectfully, it challenges people to build supportive relationships online, but also helps to equip them with skills to keep themselves and others safe online.
Negative behaviour online, such as meanness, bullying and hate language is not something that only impacts young people, but building greater awareness and understanding of respectful behaviour online among children has to be part of the solution."
Details of organisations that can offer support can be found at: https://www.damianhinds.com/health-conditions-and-mental-health
