Children and young people - community mental health and wellbeing: supports and services framework

Core principles

21. Children, young people and their families should expect the following core principles in the provision of community-based support:

• Easily Accessible. Support should be easily and quickly accessible to anyone requesting assistance, and the range of supports and services provided by local partnerships should include self-referral options. Supports and services should be highly visible within the whole system so that children, young people, families and professionals are aware of the support pathways available. Local partnerships should ensure that information on their supports and services is publicly available and kept updated.
• Accessible to all. Supports and services should be equitably accessible to those with additional and complex needs. There should be targeted provision for those considered at-risk, taking account of local needs, and there should be conscious efforts made to reduce health inequalities. This should systematically focus on children and young people with protected characteristics as well as other groups where there is evidence of poor mental health outcomes.
• Strengths-based. There should be a focus on building resilience, listening and talking, and avoiding over-medicalising the child or young person. Supports and services should work collaboratively with the child or young person, focus on their strengths and capabilities, and help them develop coping strategies.
• Relationship-based. Supports and services should be relationship-based and, where possible, delivered or supported by people already in a child or young person’s life. Those with a trusted relationship with the child or young person should be helped to support them. Supports and services should be sustainably resourced to allow for the development of relationships.
• Prevention-focused. Early intervention and preventative approaches should be prioritised. Supports and services should provide an early response to the first concerns or signs of distress, with prompt, proportionate and informed assessment that determines the response and assesses risk.
• Rights-based and person-centred. Children, young people and their families should be empowered to express their views regarding their needs and support, and to have these views acknowledged, recorded and acted upon where possible. Where appropriate, children, young people and families should take part in shared decision-making. All decisions made about a child or young person and their family should consider the mental health impact. Children, young people and their families should be engaged in design, delivery and evaluation of the supports and services on a continuing basis.
• Get the right help at the right time. Supports and services should work closely with CAMHS and relevant health and social care partners, children’s services and educational establishments to ensure that there are clear and streamlined pathways to support where this is more appropriately delivered by other services. Local partnerships should be clear and explicit about how the different services are expected to work together.
• Tell your story only once. Children, young people and their families should be able to tell their story once and should be supported through seamless transitions. There should be “no wrong door” to support. Where suitable support is not available in the community, professionals should facilitate transition into the most appropriate setting.

22. In addition to the above, supports and services should work in a way that helps tackle stigma and discrimination, for example by:

• Raising awareness and understanding around mental health, and of the barriers that stigma and discrimination can present for seeking, accessing and receiving the right help and support.
• Challenging myths, misconceptions and stereotypes around mental health wherever this is seen, including where it overlaps with other forms of stigma such as around protected characteristics, and social factors like poverty.
• Promoting empathy, compassion and listening to anyone struggling with their mental health and encouraging open and supportive communities within staff teams and amongst children and young people themselves.