Children’s Minister Sarah Teather has announced a new programme to improve the mental health of children and young people.
BOND (Better Outcomes, New Delivery) will aim to ensure that families receive early intervention support from mental health support services. The programme will also seek to help children and young people build resilience to potential mental health issues by working with schools, voluntary and community organisations across England.
BOND will trial new approaches to joint working and providing intensive support, through workshops, one to one coaching and action learning sets, for voluntary and community sector organisations, commissioners and schools.
It is estimated that at least 850,000 children and young people suffer from a diagnosable mental health problem in England, which equates to three children in every classroom. This new initiative will be funded by the Department for Education and led by the charity YoungMinds.
Sarah Brennan, the charity’s Chief Executive says that “Many children and young people across England are suffering with mental health problems, and families and schools are struggling to cope. BOND will help them access the right help as early as possible, before their problems escalate.”
For more information, visit:
www.youngminds.org.uk/bond