1 in 6 children have a diagnosable mental heath issue

[thecaretaker]

They are reporting on the news that 1 in 6 children/young people have a diagnosable mental heath issue due to the pandemic lockdown. They say if not treated, they are storing up problems for adult life.

Have you noticed any issues with pupils in your schools?

Is your school doing anything to help young people with mental health issues?

[Drone]

The problem is surely that these kids may have issues that do not show up until later life. In East Sussex, a CAMHS referral can a very long time even if the problem is picked up by the school.

[Handyman]

I used to do a lot of fundraising and admin support for a local youth counselling charity until a few years ago and the waiting lists for referrals were enormous then (2+ years) and covid lock downs won't have helped. I think schools are doing what they can with limited resources but when an 8 year old child presents signs of issues and they probably won't get any diagnosis until they are in secondary school it may be difficult to know how best to help.

[Vera]

To be brutally honest i think it is the parents that have traumatised the kids.

At our school we have a very good pastoral system and take on a fair few children with disabilities physical and mental, so these issues are picked up really early.
Most of the kids i see are pretty much fine at school it's the parents that are badly behaved with an attitude of it's someone else's fault.
Social media hasn't helped when the children can't interact as they haven't been able to during Covid, there's just far too much bullying behaviour going on and unrealistic expectations of life.

[twiglets]

it's beyond the parents - at the moment it is the media and the government. This virus has been going on for two years now, but extreme fear still exists out there- I read on a local social media site that older people are shouting at the youngsters that they are going to cause them to die because a young child wasn't wearing a face mask in a shop- was this what it was like during WW2 with the blitz?? The children are learning from a scared society- then expecting parents and school staff to sort the problem out. Even today they tell us the waiting list for NHS is rising- so what help for the mental health side is out there when you are delaying major life saving treatments. Oh, and by the way all your bills are going up and there might be a messy expensive war in eastern Europe "you" (meaning the low paid) need to pay for it.
in my opinion is is probably nearer 5/6 that have some mental health issue. Rant over

[AndyCornwall]

Attachment styles and the effect it has on mental health and relationships stem from parents and how the child is treated at home.

School cannot fix any of that but can provide a stable environment which may have been missing for some children during periods within the pandemic so far.

It is much harder to fix issues than prevent them but it does require awareness and a space to do it in, which the pandemic and it's consequences will have made harder.

[pete]

Sorry but how can parents be blamed for a global pandemic? A lot of parents have had to deal with huge stresses with losing jobs and being locked down their selves? We shouldn't be looking at pointing fingers we should be looking how to move forward but that's just my opinion.

[thecaretaker]

If as it appears to be that a lot of young people are suffering from additional mental health issues, I was wondering what your schools were doing to help them.

Some schools have appointed staff to deal with issues, some schools are letting young children take pets like dogs into school which apparently helps their confidence. Schools are finding ways to get pupils to interact with each other better as many children have withdrawn into their own shell/head.

From reading your replies, it looks like your schools are just leaving it to the existing arrangements and maybe hope the problem goes away.

Are any of your schools actually making any additional changes to help young pupils at this difficult time?