Mental health and wellbeing strategy, delivery plan and workforce action plan: child rights and wellbeing impact assessment (CRWIA)

7. Positive impact: Giving better or further effect to children’s rights in Scotland (Guidance Section 2.2)

If positive impact is identified in Question 5, please reflect on and explain how your relevant proposal currently protects, respects and fulfils children’s rights in Scotland or will do so in future.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy aims to deliver our vision is of a Scotland, free from stigma and inequality, where everyone fulfils their right to achieve the best mental health and wellbeing possible.

To achieve these outcomes, we will:

Promote positive mental health and wellbeing for the whole population, improving understanding and tackling stigma, inequality and discrimination;

Prevent mental health issues occurring or escalating and tackle underlying causes, adversities and inequalities wherever possible; and

Provide mental health and wellbeing support and care, ensuring people and communities can access the right information, skills, services and opportunities in the right place at the right time, using a person-centred approach.

It is not anticipated that this policy will have any negative impact on children’s rights. The policy is underpinned by equalities and human rights; therefore, it is assessed that the policy will have a positive or neutral impact on children’s rights. For example;

Article 6 refers to life, development, and survival. The objective of the Strategy, and underlying actions in both supporting plans, is to promote better mental health which should positively impact children’s lives and development. A specific example of this is strategic action 4.2 which focuses on self-harm reduction across the life course, with a recognition of the prevalence amongst young people and marginalised groups. A Self-Harm Strategy and an Action Plan were published in November of 2023 which sets out how reducing self-harm will be tackled. This will help to reduce self-harming behaviours in children and young people and positively impact human rights in article 6, UNCRC.

Article 24 refers to healthcare and health services. As a large proportion of the Strategy and plans focus on healthcare and health services, targeted at improving mental health care for the whole population, it is expected there will only be a positive impact on this right.

A focus on training, including equalities, in the Workforce Action Plan will help to ensure that the workforce, including volunteers and carers, are appropriately skilled to support children and young people. There are also actions on developing and disseminating further training opportunities, partly informed by the recommendations of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board which has significant lived experience input from children and young people. These actions will have a positive impact on children and young people’s right to access appropriate mental health support.

Another specific example of this is the perinatal and infant mental health work, which supports family mental health around pregnancy and infancy/early childhood. Strategic action 10.2 focuses on continuing to invest in and embed perinatal and infant mental health services at all levels of need so that women and families across all areas of Scotland have access to these services. This work supports caregivers with their mental wellbeing and mental health and provides interventions for infant mental health where necessary. Family therapy and peer support provide positive benefits for families during pregnancy and with young children. This will have a positive impact on Article 24(2) (d), (e) and (f).