Coronavirus (COVID-19) mental health transition and recovery plan - children and young people's mental health: CRWIA

1. Which articles of the UNCRC does this policy/measure impact on?

T&R Plan – New policies requiring CRWIA / Which UNCRC Articles are relevant to the policy/measure?

Family Support. We will continue to support parents by developing a wider package of Covid-19 related family support, building on existing work, such as the introduction of Solihull Online.

Article 3, 4, 5, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 27

Signposting to Help and Support. We will continue our work to ensure that children, young people and their families will be clearly and quickly signposted to the right help and support where necessary. We will enhance and build on digital support developed during lockdown, such as Aye Feel and Parent Club.

Article 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25

Emotional Wellbeing. We are working with children, young people and families to understand the factors that have impacted on emotional wellbeing as a result of the pandemic and lockdown. Within this we will consider wider factors such as body image, screen time, disrupted sleep, worries about education, employment, toxic masculinity, or relationship issues. We will develop policy and actions in response to what we have heard and continue to deliver work already underway in these areas, such as the Mind Yer Time guidance for healthy social media use, and the work of the Body Image Advisory Group.

Article 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25

Students. We will continue to ensure that university and college students have access to the right mental health support. We will build on our existing investments such as our commitment to provide 80 additional counsellors in colleges and universities, and the refocusing of the National Union of Students' Think Positive project to respond to Covid-19 mental health need. We will also continue to target our messaging on the availability of resources such as NHS 24 and Breathing Space to ensure they are well publicised in universities and colleges. We will develop a response to support children, young people and families experiencing heightened distress.

Article 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29

Emotional Distress. We will develop services to respond to the damaging impacts on unregulated emotional distress in under 16s and the parents of children experiencing distress, as well as to women in the perinatal period.

Article 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 39

Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board. The ongoing work of the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board will be responsive and sensitive to the phases of this pandemic. It will consider the longer term impacts on young children and families associated with Covid-19. This includes establishing perinatal mental health services as a priority area for the roll out of Near Me services, providing dedicated support around Covid-19 to our existing third sector funded organisations, and building Covid-19 responsiveness into the applications for the recently launched Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Third Sector Fund.

Article 3, 5, 6, 18, 31, 39

Access to Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Services. In line with the 2020-21 Delivery Plan for the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board, we will establish a working group to gain a more detailed understanding of issues raised in the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board EQIA through further consultation and analysis. We will consider how recent Covid-19 driven innovations in mental health services can improve access for people with protected characteristics, and will seek to further embed these within services.

Article 3, 5, 6, 18, 31, 39

Expanding the National Trauma Training Programme: recognising the increased risk of people experiencing psychological trauma as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, we will continue to fund the National Trauma Training Programme, led by NHS Education for Scotland, to ensure that all sectors of the workforce have the resources they need to help embed trauma informed approaches. This includes a focus on systems, services and organisations which support children and young people.

Articles 3, 6, 12 ,24, 25, 31, 39