10 Reasons Why Mental Health For Young People Needs Improving #TalkMentalHealth

Today is World Mental Health Day. Mental health has been in the news lots lately, with Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, vowing to increase spending on Child and Adolescent Mental Health by £7 million. These are just 10 reasons why more needs to be done about children and young people's mental health

1. 850,000 children and young people in the UK have a mental health problem

...that's nearly the equivalent of 10 Wembley Stadiums. (YoungMinds)

2. 1 in 10 children and young people aged 5 - 16 suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder

In a class of 30, around 3 children will have a mental health problem. (YoungMinds)

3. Nearly 80,000 children and young people suffer from severe depression with 8,000 of those aged under 10

(YoungMinds)

4. Between 1 in every 12 and 1 in 15 children and young people deliberately self-harm

(YoungMinds)

5. 76% of 5-15yr olds with anxiety or diagnosable depression do not receive any support from mental health services.

6. Over the last ten years the number of young people being admitted to hospital because of self-harm has increased by 68%

(YoungMinds)

7. 6% of the NHS mental health budget is spent on services for children and young people

This is despite us knowing that early intervention in childhood saves money and lives in the long term.

(YoungMinds)

8. More than half of all adults with mental health problems were diagnosed in childhood

But less than half were treated appropriately at the time (YoungMinds)

9. 95% of imprisoned young offenders have a mental health disorder

With many of them are struggling with more than one (YoungMinds)

10. If left untreated, mental health issues can lead to alcohol and drug misuse, self-harm and in extreme cases, can lead to suicide - one of the leading causes of death in young people

While deaths caused by physical conditions have consistently fallen, the number of children and young people taking their own lives has not dropped since 1980 - 34 years ago.