Support cash is so vital

PRIORITY issue . . . mental health of young people

OLDHAM Youth Council is calling for the Government to ensure funding is made available to provide young people with mental health services in schools.

Speaking at this week's full council meeting, the youth council said a recent survey of primary school head teachers showed nearly 80 per cent of those who responded said a lack of money prevented them providing mental health services in schools.

They went on to say that more than half of all mental illness starts before the age of 15 and that teachers face increasing problems of mental health issues among their students.

The Youth Council has held mental health as a priority issue for six years.

In Oldham the council, CCG, schools, colleges and other partner organisations work with young people on projects such as MH2K, the school and college emotional and mental wellbeing framework and the Youth Council's "Kerrching" funding stream.

There has also been funding from the CCG to commission training around a range of young people's mental health topics for front line practitioners in Oldham, but the Youth Council said that without adequate funding from central government these initiatives will have a limited impact.

The council said: "We know that more than half of all mental illness starts before the age of 15 and it is clear from front line school teachers and head teachers that they are increasingly faced with problems of mental health issues among their students. It is therefore a false economy to cut funding for services for children and young people.

"Young people in Oldham tell us it's a priority issue, professionals we work with tell us it's a priority issue, our regional and National counterparts tell us it's a priority issue and the Government need to acknowledge and address this as a priority issue."

Councillor Eddie Moores said: "The subject of youth mental health is something we must all be aware about so I thank the youth council for raising it."

The council, which approved the motion, will ask the chief executive to write to both the Minister of State for Education and the Minister of State for Health, requesting that adequate funding is made available to schools and colleges to allow them to invest in services.