£1.4m pilot to improve mental health of Welsh pupils

A £1.4m investment to strengthen the support from specialist child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in schools has been announced by the Welsh Government.

Dedicated CAMHS practitioners will be recruited to work with pilot schools in three areas across Wales. They will provide teachers with on-site help and advice, ensuring pupils experiencing difficulties such as anxiety, low mood, and compulsive self-harm or conduct disorders receive early help in schools from suitably trained staff, preventing more serious problems occurring later in life.

The pilot will help teachers to better understand childhood distress, emotional and mental health problems, and reduce stress experienced by teachers concerned about their pupils, by up-skilling them to recognise and deal with problems.

It will also ensure that when issues that are outside teachers’ competence and skills, a specialist liaison, consultancy and advice is available to enable the young person to be directed to more appropriate services.

The pilot will also ensure systems are in place to share appropriate information between CAMHS and schools, shared care arrangements are agreed for those young people requiring more intensive support, and that arrangements are in place to escalate/de-escalate as the young person’s needs dictate.

Initially operating as a pilot programme, the initiative will commence by the end of 2017 and cover two full academic years, concluding in the summer of 2020. The results will be evaluated, and take into account a broad range of measures from the perspective of both teachers and pupils.