Chair of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, Sir Norman Lamb, will be retiring from his role as Chair at the end of March 2023

Kadra Abdinasir, Strategic Lead for the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, said: “Since joining as Chair in 2020, Norman has led the Coalition through the Covid-19 pandemic, a time of significant change and challenge for our members and the children, young people and families they support. Norman’s leadership has contributed to building a Coalition that leads the way in collaboration across the sector, and in promoting the mental health of babies, children and young people.

We would like to thank Norman for his tireless work in championing the mental health of children and young people.  Norman has played an integral part in building and strengthening the influence of the Coalition and has brought incredible expertise, passion and knowledge to the role.

Thanks to Norman’s leadership and vision, we have been able to achieve so much over the past three years. This includes responding the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, listening to the voices of our members through our 2020 and 2021 Members’ Reports, promoting the importance of early intervention support through our Fund the Hubs campaign, and launching our behaviour and mental health in schools inquiry.

The Coalition will continue to collaborate with and champion our members and the children and young people they work with. We will shortly be releasing details about how to apply to be our next Coalition chair.”

Sir Norman Lamb said “It is with a heavy heart that I am retiring as chair of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition. I am so proud of all that that we have achieved in my three years as Chair, particularly in challenging times such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since I joined as Chair in 2020, the Coalition has grown its membership to over 250 organisations and we have championed the voices and work of our members. I believe our growing membership is evidence of the relevance and importance of our work and represents a rallying call from the sector that we need to work together to prioritise the mental health and wellbeing of the next generation.

I would like to thank all of our members for their continuous support and hard work in ensuring children and young people’s mental health is prioritised and promoted.

Whilst I am sad to be stepping down from the role, I look forward to seeing all that the Coalition achieves in the future.”