‘Future in mind – promoting, protecting and improving our children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing’ makes a number of proposals the government wishes to see by 2020. These include:
- tackling stigma and improving attitudes to mental illness
- introducing more access and waiting time standards for services
- establishing ‘one stop shop’ support services in the community
- improving access for children and young people who are particularly vulnerable
The report sets out how much of this can be achieved through better working between the NHS, local authorities, voluntary and community services, schools and other local services. It also makes it clear that many of these changes can be achieved by working differently, rather than needing significant investment.
The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Taskforce was set up last year and was co-chaired by Jon Rouse, Director General for Social Care, Local Government and Care Partnerships at the Department of Health, and Martin McShane, Director for Long-Term Conditions at NHS England.