Thousands of Warrington children seek mental health support

More than 2,700 children and young people in Warrington were in contact with mental health support in the 12 months leading up to May 2022 - this is the equivalent of more than one-in-five under-19s in the town.

This marks a three per cent increase in figures from July last year when records began.

From our analysis of the NHS’s May data:

📈 new record for emergency mental health referrals (992 up 37%)
📈 new record for open service referrals (457k)

Young people can’t wait any longer for the Government to act on this. They must #EndTheWait for change, now.

— YoungMinds (@YoungMindsUK) August 20, 2022

As of the end of May, there were 815 children in Warrington waiting for treatment after being referred by a GP or other health professional.

The figures, from NHS Digital, show that across the country there has been an increase of more than 20 per cent in the number of children seeking mental health support.

Nationally, numbers of children seeking help rose from 570,000 to 690,000 within 12 months.

Children's mental health charity YoungMinds said the figures are "harrowing", especially as students receive grades for A-level and GCSE exams.

Olly Parker, head of external affairs at the charity, said: "The pandemic has certainly deepened the crisis in young people’s mental health, with huge disruption to students’ education, many of whom were also dealing with multiple pressures like difficult home environments, bereavement and other trauma."

Signs that your child might be struggling with their mental health:

1 They're sleeping too much or too little

2 They're not speaking to their friends as much

3 They're not enjoying things they usually do

4 They're feeling upset regularly

5 They're eating more or less food

— YoungMinds (@YoungMindsUK) August 19, 2022

Mr Parker added: "The reality is that month after month we are seeing devastating new records of young people struggling to get treatment and support for their mental health, and month after month, we are left waiting for the Government to take action and end this intensifying crisis."

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said supporting children's mental health is a "major priority" and that it invested £79 million in 2021-22 to expand services to support more than 22,000 children and young people.

They added that the department is expanding mental health support teams to cover three million pupils by 2024 and is increasing investment in services by at least £2.3 billion per year by 2024.