Children and Young People

Improving the Emotional Health and Wellbeing of Children and Young People

Adolescence is a critical period for mental health and brain development. The Oxwell Study is an annual survey which asks school pupils how they experience school life and health-related issues. We hope to better understand what is happening to the mental health of young people, and to inform schools, the local council and their partners, how to provide pupils with the best support and guidance to keep them safe and happy.​

A Kings Fund Report suggests that in the aftermath of any disaster, 3-4% of people will experience severe mental health problems and a further 15-20% will experience moderate disorders. Most of the population, around 75%, will experience symptoms of poor mental health such as stress, worry, fatigue and depleted resilience – this is an ordinary response to an extraordinarily difficult situation, but these needs are extremely damaging when they are prolonged, as we have seen with the COVID-19 pandemic.​

Many people will have the physical, emotional and social resources to recover without requiring additional support. However, families and individuals who are disadvantaged, unsupported or vulnerable are less likely to recover unaided, less likely to seek support and may find that their needs are below thresholds for existing specialist mental health support.  The most vulnerable are also most likely to feel the impact of ongoing pandemic related risks such as the end of the furlough scheme. ​

Liverpool Public Health Team delivered evidence-based interventions across the life course, focusing on improving local mental wellbeing and tackling low level mental health needs, self-harm/suicide risks and building resilience in our community. ​

• Perinatal support – Enhancing existing therapeutic services, breastfeeding provision and support to all women, specifically targeting vulnerable groups, to manage increasing levels of poor mental wellbeing and health within the perinatal period ​
• Early years – Enhancing existing service capacity and further developing skills and expertise for wellbeing and resilience in early years settings, universal services and community settings ​
• Schools – Enhancing and quality assuring existing whole schools approaches, supporting prevention and early intervention, including bullying prevention​
• Community based model for prevention – Provided funding for community based services to deliver an all age and families appropriate mental wellbeing support, suitable for people without a mental health diagnosis ​
• Liverpool Community Voluntary Sector – a 3rd Sector Grants Programme to enhance the capacity within communities to address the significant rise in lower-level mental health problems ​
• Domestic abuse mental health support – Vulnerable families – targeted specialist support for families vulnerable to children becoming looked after

Key Findings: ​

• Almost 1/3 of pupils don’t feel they get enough help with emotional needs; ​
• Just over 1/4 of pupils worry about going to school ​
• Most indicators of poor mental health (e.g. low wellbeing, loneliness, anxiety and depression) increased overall with age ​
• 6.7% of pupils admitted self-harming within the last month ​
• 51.6% of pupils know where to go for mental health support in school ​

Children and young people have not been immune to the wide-ranging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and whilst children were less likely than adults to have been hospitalised with the virus, their access to health care, education and social support has been badly disrupted and their mental health has been disproportionately affected. 

Often forgotten or overlooked during the COVID-19 response, we know that children and young people have been negatively impacted by the pandemic and the measures taken to control it with a potential for long-term consequences. As a result, we as a city are committed to a journey of improvement and transformation in the services that we provide and commission to ensure that every child can have the best possible start in life and grow into healthy and happy adults. ​

The 0-19 Public Health Service in Liverpool, (comprising Health Visitors, Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) and School Health) is provided by Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust and aims to maximise the opportunities to improve the health, social, educational, and emotional outcomes for all babies, infants, children, young people, and their families. The service supports a strong partnership commitment to ensure that all children in Liverpool can have the best possible start in life and can develop into happy children who grow and learn to their full potential. 

Public Health and its partners have commenced a process of service transformation and improvement to learn from the lessons of COVID-19 and to develop a modern service that is resilient and focused on the needs of local families. We want to ensure that the modern service can work with families and other organisations to address known modifiable risk factors for ill health and to ensure parental mental health, infant mental health and parent infant attachment are prioritised.

We want to deliver a service that can support an improvement in children’s readiness to learn with a specific focus on communication, speech, and language skills from birth, and to increase early help and reduce the number of care entrants. We are committed to reducing childhood obesity and addressing the modifiable risk factors that can lead to child poverty. ​

Only by working together can we develop a local system that promotes positive health, tackles inequalities, and provides opportunities for children, young people, and families to thrive and grow well and enjoy the best possible start in life.​