Children and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board newsletter: July 2022

Other Areas of Work

Mental Health Strategy Public Consultation

The Scottish Government is committed to producing a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy in 2022, building on the implementation of our Mental Health Covid Transition and Recovery Plan.

The new strategy will allow government to look ahead to make sure we are doing the right things to meet changing mental health needs over the coming years as we recover from the pandemic; and will set out a clear vision for future population mental health, wellbeing and care, and our priorities to help us get there.

The scope of the strategy will be wider than before, with an increasing focus on wellbeing and prevention. We will also consider how the strategy can take account of social factors and inequalities that may impact a person's mental health and wellbeing.

We have already undertaken extensive engagement to help us shape thinking about the strategy. We have recently launched our public consultation and will take forward further engagement activity over the summer months, including people with lived experience, to inform this important work. This will also involve hearing from children and young people. The team leading on the Strategy are linking closely with those who led on engagement with children and young people as part of the Children and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board. The consultation will include questions on the scope of the strategy, the draft outcomes and what our overall vision should be. The consultation also contains questions about how we can support a sustainable workforce for mental health and wellbeing. You can find the consultation documents on the Scottish Government website and on Citizen Space.

National Care Service

The Independent Review into Adult Social Care (IRASC) recommended the establishment of a National Care Service, with Scottish Ministers being accountable for the delivery of consistent and high standards in health and social care services.

Last year the Scottish Government undertook a public consultation on its proposals for a National Care Service (NCS) to achieve changes to the system of community health and social care in Scotland; and published an independent analysis of the consultation responses. The feedback received has been used to shape and develop new legislation – the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 20 June 2022. The Bill provides the foundation for the NCS, and enables the fine detail of the new service to be co‑designed with people who have direct experience of social care services. Plans have also been published to explain how that collaboration will work. In parallel with further consultation about mental health services, independent research will be commissioned by the Scottish Government to build the evidence base on the current delivery models of children's services. This research project will consider the different models of delivery to develop an understanding of which delivery models can most effectively implement The Promise and support the improvement of outcomes for children and families.

You can find out more information about the National Care Service on the Scottish Government website.

Content Warning: Some of following articles/resources are focused on suicide prevention. If this has an emotional effect on you or you need someone to talk to, please reach out for support. See the 'Helpline and Websites' section at the end of this newsletter for contact details).

The National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group (NSPLG): Youth Advisory Panel

The National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group (NSPLG)'s Youth Advisory Group is now open for applications. This group is being established to ensure young people's views are heard directly by decision-makers, to inform and improve policy on suicide prevention. More information is available online.

The group is aimed at young people (16–25 year olds), who have direct experience of suicide or who suffer from poor mental health. Where a young person has experienced the loss of someone close through suicide, two years must have passed before they can be involved. Due to the nature of the group, we will require all members to be referred by a worker or adult in their life and for this person to be available to provide support before and after meetings.

If anyone would like more information on the group, then please get in touch with Chris Ross from Children in Scotland on cross@childreninscotland.org.uk. Chris would be delighted to speak to anyone interested and has an information sheet that he can share which provides more information on this work and the team involved.

National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group (NSPLG): Launch of Youth Suicide Prevention Campaign

On 27 June, an eight week suicide prevention campaign, 'Better Tomorrow', was launched to encourage young people aged 16–24 to talk, listen and support each other for a better tomorrow. The campaign has been commissioned by the NSPLG and developed by United To Prevent Suicide who have worked extensively with young people to co‑develop and test the campaign. The United To Prevent Suicide website will include information about 'Better Tomorrow' for young people, their parents and carers, and organisations that work with young people.

If you work with young people aged 16–24 please consider sharing the campaign's content on your own social media channels. Please follow @TalkToSaveLives on Instagram, Facebook and/or Twitter for more information.