Ministers announce first areas to receive school mental health support
The Department for Education (DfE) and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have announced the first 25 areas to receive help from the new mental health support teams, which will work between schools and child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), and offer support and treatments in schools, including cognitive behaviour therapy.
In the North East bids from Newcastle Gateshead CCG, South Tyneside CCG and Northumberland CCG were successful. The teams will work with around 20 schools or 8,000 pupils in each area. Training is set to begin in January and the teams are scheduled to be in place by the end of 2019.
Schools North East has previously criticised the timing of the bidding process. Despite Ministers’ encouragement of extensive dialogue between CCGs and school leaders, the process was announced just before this year’s summer school holidays and ran until early September. The timescales for full roll-out have also come under fire after Ministers admitted that the scheme would reach a maximum of 25 per cent of the population by 2023.
Plans for further expansion of children and young people’s mental health services will be set out in the government’s long-term plan for the NHS.
Read the joint DfE DHSCE press release here.