We need more than ambulances to help kids’ mental health in the UK

We need more than ambulances to help kids’ mental health in the UK

We need more than ambulances to help kids’ mental health in the UK

Children’s mental heath has never been so critical, in the next five years, 1.5 million childlren will need new support with their mental health.

a young girl holding a leaf

Our Interim Partnership Director, Professor Emily Simonoff, discusses how clinicians and academics will work together to deliver effective, timely and inclusive mental health care for those who need it most in the new Pears Maudsley Centre when it opens in 2024.

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Sky News: Mental health in teenagers: OCD ‘made me want to end my life’

Sky News: Mental health in teenagers: OCD ‘made me want to end my life’

Sky News: Mental health in teenagers: OCD ‘made me want to end my life’

New data published by NHS Digital shows that 18% of children aged 7-16 years and 22% of young people aged 17-24 years have a probable mental disorder.

In response to the report, our Interim Partnership Director, Professor Emily Simonoff said ” These are stark figures. In 2022, following years of awarness raising campaigns about the importance of good mental health, and an ever increasing understanding of the role that it plays, we still find ourselves in a position where almost one in every five 7 – 16 year olds has a probably mental health disorder.”

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A third of parents think the cost of living crisis will significantly affect their children’s mental health

A third of parents think the cost of living crisis will significantly affect their children’s mental health

A third of parents think the cost of living crisis will significantly affect their children’s mental health

One in three (34%) parents say they think the rising cost of living could affect the mental health of their children a great deal, while seven in ten parents (72%) say it could affect it at least a little over the coming months, according to a new poll by Savanta ComRes and commissioned by the King’s Maudsley Partnership.

Group of children sitting on the floor and smiling

The poll, which surveyed 2,150 UK parents of children between 5 and 17 years old, between 23rd-29th September – after the Chancellor’s mini Budget – also found a third of parents (33%) feel their child is currently experiencing mental health difficulties. This rises with the age of children to 43% of parents with children aged 16-17.

Amongst these children, parents thought the most common symptom or behaviour parents have noticed is anxiety (68%), which is cited by nearly twice as many parents as the next most common response – which is noticing depression or low mood episodes in their children (37%).

The survey also found that three-quarters of parents (75%) think government funding for children’s mental health services should be increased. 

A significant three-quarters of parents (77%) say they would consider paying for private healthcare services if their children were experiencing mental health difficulties. Only 3% say they definitely would not. 

In some encouraging news, amongst those surveyed, the vast majority of parents (86%) say they feel able to support their children if they are experiencing mental health difficulties. Of those who say their children are currently experiencing mental health difficulties, the majority (56%) have successfully accessed professional help for their child’s mental health. A further 3 in 10 (30%) say they didn’t successfully access professional help but tried to.

The King’s Maudsley Partnership, which is made up of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College London and the Maudsley Charity, aims to transform child and adolescent mental health care through a unique collaboration between world-leading academics and clinicians, to significantly speed up the time taken to bring research breakthroughs into clinical treatment.

Professor Emily Simonoff
Interim Director of the King’s Maudsley Partnership for Children and Young People’s Mental Health

Children and young people’s mental health has already been impacted by COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crisis adds yet another burden. Mental health services are already struggling to meet the demand and the pressure on families’ finances could see an even greater rise. It is all the more important to make interventions available to children and young people to help them navigate stressful life events – the research we will be undertaking in the Pears Maudsley Centre will work towards preventative interventions and targeted treatments.

David Bradley
Chief Executive of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Parents are very worried about how the cost of living crisis will affect their children, just as they begin to recover from a pandemic that affected their education, personal development and ability to deal with mental health conditions. 

 

Together, South London and Maudsley and King’s College London are already leaders in the research and treatment of anxiety. But with the latest figures showing 68 per cent of parents noticing their children experiencing anxiety we need a step change.

 

The expert knowledge and specialist care at the heart of the King’s Maudsley Partnership will drive new treatments and help address many of the complex mental health problems that we are facing.”

Kelly Boone, whose teenage daughter Avella is recovering from severe Body Dysmorphia

“It is a big worry. My daughter is doing well with her recovery but it’s still a daily battle. We try to cut back as much as we can but we have to make sure heating, lighting and water are available to her. She still has BDD which involves daily routines and rituals and she judges herself by very high standards. We can’t compromise her mental health.

 

She dropped out of college last year and thankfully now she’s back, but she can’t face public transport. We drive her there, which is an hour’s round trip. Gas, electricity and fuel are three things for which we’re going to have to pull money out of thin air. Every day we’re bracing ourselves for what’s next, hoping something will change but the costs keep spiralling.”

The Partnership will have its home at the £69m Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People, which will be home to clinicians and academics in the field of children and young people’s mental health from the Trust and from King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), as well as the outstanding Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital School and young in-patients. The Centre is due to open in Denmark Hill in early 2024.

It will provide treatment to young people with a range of conditions, from eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder, to anxiety, ADHD, autism and trauma.

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Pears Maudsley Centre featured on BBC Radio 4

Pears Maudsley Centre featured on BBC Radio 4

Pears Maudsley Centre featured on BBC Radio 4

The Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People has been featured during a broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s World.

Group of children sitting on the floor and smiling

On Monday (25th July), The Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People was featured during a broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s World.  Journalist Sarah Montague met with David Bradley, Chief Executive of our Trust, Emily Simonoff, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at King’s College London and Jasmin, an amazing young person who has used services and contributed to the design of the building, for a tour of the new building.

You can listen again here:

 

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Pears Maudsley Centre ‘Highly Commended’ at Design in Mental Health Awards

Pears Maudsley Centre ‘Highly Commended’ at Design in Mental Health Awards

Pears Maudsley Centre ‘Highly Commended’ at Design in Mental Health Awards

The Pears Maudsley Centre received ‘Highly Commended’ in the ‘Outside Spaces’ category at the Design in Mental Health 2022 Awards last night.

Group of children sitting on the floor and smiling

The Centre is specifically designed to help young people manage anxiety and to create the right atmosphere for those with autism, ADHD and other conditions. It is a modern, community-minded space, totally different from traditional mental health clinics and its design has had input from young patients from the start.

The building will have landscaped outdoor terraces with extensive planting on each of the building’s eight floors — capped by a roof terrace. It is hoped this will provide the calming, relaxing spaces that is sometimes difficult to achieve in a traditional inner-city hospital building.

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Pears Maudsley Centre featured on ITV London News

Pears Maudsley Centre featured on ITV London News

The construction progress of the Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People was featured on ITV London News yesterday evening.

Jasmin, an amazing young person who has used our services and contributed to the design of the building, explained what the centre means to her. Dr Bruce Clark spoke about how the partnership between the Trust and King’s College London will take a completely new approach to combining research and care when the building opens. The lead architect Graham Harris from IBI, shared his hope that the design of the building will provide the calming, relaxing spaces that is sometimes difficult to achieve in a traditional inner-city hospital building.

You can watch the news feature below;