To mark our 10 year celebrations, our very own Oliver Glick (CYPMHC Public Affairs and Policy Officer) was interviewed by Scientia, a series of outreach research publications, who spoke about the vital work we do in helping to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people by bringing together all our members. Ollie says “Lockdown may have been traumatic for many children, so when they return to normality it needs to be ‘back to better’, not back to normal, in terms of support and their mental health.” Here’s an extract from his interview and the full article can be downloaded below …
CYPMHC celebrates its 10th birthday this year. What have been CYPMHC’s most significant achievements to date?
We are proud of our work Informing the Future in Mind policy initiative. Future in Mind is a government initiative designed to change how Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are delivered – a crucial national service. CYPMHC was a member of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Taskforce. The work of this taskforce led to a £1.25 billion commitment and the initiation of the transformation programme.
Our lobbying also prompted the government to commission the children and young people’s mental health prevalence study in 2015 which was published in 2018. These data are important for decision-makers and society to get a clear picture of the levels of need of our children and young people, and making sure that investment and government attention match that need.
We have been very active in the COVID-19 response, something I’m pleased about as this is such a crucial time for children’s mental health. We have championed our member research and policy, which is developing all the time, and work to ensure that important findings get to decision-makers when it matters.
“Lockdown may have been traumatic for many children, so when they return to normality it needs to be ‘back to better’, not back to normal, in terms of support and their mental health.”
Download the full article below to hear more about our aims for the next ten years, how we inform policy and our reflections on how our children and young people’s mental health has been effected during the pandemic.
