The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition is a collaborative network of over 300 organisations, including mental health organisations, youth support services, educational institutions, and concerned individuals. We are dedicated to advocating for and influencing policy change in relation to the mental health needs of babies, children, and young people.

Together, we aim to raise awareness of the importance of babies, children and young people’s mental health and ensure that all children and young people have access to the necessary support and services.

We do not represent any one organisation, approach, or professional group but rather we engage with our members and come together to provide a strong unified voice speaking out about babies, children and young people’s mental health.

The Coalition was launched in the House of Lords in March 2010 and are hosted by Centre for Mental Health. We are chaired by Amy Whitlock Gibb and operate thanks to the generosity of Zurich Community Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, The AIM Foundation, Pears Foundation and The David Riddell Memorial.

Our Vision

Our vision is for all babies, children and young people to grow up in a society that prioritises and protects their mental health and wellbeing.

Our Mission

The Coalition is for all those working to improve babies’, children’s and young people’s mental health. Through our collective voice, we influence and shape policy, systems and practice by listening to and learning from our members, supporters, children, young people and families.

Our Values

• Respect for the rights of all babies, children, young people and families.
• Trust in the voices and experiences of children, young people and families and all our members who work with and for them.
• Fairness and equity across policy, resources and services affecting babies’, children’s and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

Our Principles

• We take a whole-system approach promoting equity, partnership and collaboration between all who work for and with babies, children, young people and their families.
• We work to achieve parity of esteem – at both a systemic and individual level – between physical and mental health.
• We recognise the distinct and individual needs of all 0-25 year-olds, particularly those impacted by inequalities, oppression and discrimination, who we prioritise in our work. We take an anti-racist approach in all aspects of our work.
• Our work is person-centred and asset-based; we promote choice and coproduction with, and for, empowered babies, children, young people and their families.
• Our work is evidence-based. We work alongside those with lived-experience and decision-makers to implement change, whilst also holding decisionmakers accountable for the commitments and promises they have made.