Mental health conditions amongst children have risen by 50%

Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England published a report in 2021 for the children's commissioner in which she found that that clinically significant mental health conditions amongst children had risen by 50% compared to 2017. The report states that '1 in 6 children between the age of 5 and 19 have a probable mental health condition.'

The significant rise in 'probable mental health conditions' among children and young people is reported to be part caused by the pandemic and its associated limitations. Although we do know from research carried out before the first lockdown, that these conditions were already on the rise from the published 1 in 10 children with a probable mental health condition in 2017.

We know is that early intervention is imperative to ensure these children and young people have the best possible life chances and outcomes. There are many teams and charities around the country who are working hard to meet the additional needs, including us at The Matthew Hackney Foundation, and without your support we simply could not reach as many children and young people as we do.

We are in the process of increasing our service by another 50%, which means we will be supporting children and young people in approximately one third of the schools in Surrey in September. Thank you to each and every one of our supporters, without you we simply could not deliver this much needed service.

Damage to children’s mental health caused by Covid crisis could last for years without a large-scale increase for children’s mental health services | Children's Commissioner for England (childrenscommissioner.gov.uk) accessed 09/07/2021