“Urgent” need for youth social prescribing

The latest government figures show that more than 1.2 million under-eighteens were referred to CAMHS last year – a startling increase of 53 per cent since 2019.

In a report published earlier this month, the charity said social prescribing could help reduce that figure. Barnardo’s said the treatment is a cheap and effective preventative and early intervention for children and young people with mild or non-clinical mental health problems. My research has led me to the same conclusions and indeed, even before this latest report, I called on the NHS to adopt a community-centred model for children aged 11 and above.

Social prescribing is a non-clinical option which connects people with mild but complex mental health issues to community-based treatment. It might include encouraging individuals to join a walking group or to take up gardening or swimming. Group activities like crafting or cinema clubs are also recommended, as ways of combating loneliness.

Despite being referred to as an all-age offer in the 2019 NHS Long Term Plan, which means that young people should be included in the support provided by social prescribing, it is primarily offered to adults. Barnardo’s report calls the provision of social prescribing for the young “underdeveloped with fewer services available.”   

But there are some signs of progress. A Children and Young People Social Prescribing (CYPSP) toolkit has just been published and some health providers already offer some support. Research into the impact of social prescribing on young people’s mental health has been limited but what has taken place has shown there are significant health benefits.

The NHS itself would benefit too from increased social prescribing, with the Open Data Institute estimating that it could reduce the need for GP appointments by 2.5-3 per cent annually, or 2.8m-3million appointments.

I have been involved in several funded research projects including the first evaluation of social prescribing for children and young people, including in Italy and Portugal, as well as a two-year study in Luton, Sheffield, and Brighton in collaboration with StreetGames, a national charity supporting young people.

These studies show that social prescribing needs to be integrated more into how young people access support. Many young people only go to see their GPs when they are seriously ill, so earlier intervention is needed in schools, youth centres or through the voluntary sector.

Not that the treatment is a panacea. It can make a contribution, even a significant one to supporting young people’s mental health and wellbeing, but it cannot currently address the mental health crisis which has become more entrenched since the pandemic.

This requires much more coordinated work from different statutory and non-statutory organisations and the voluntary sector can play a significant role in support for CYPSP. Given that 75 per cent of mental health issues arise in the first 25 years of life, investment in support for young people through CYPSP is warranted and deserves much more government attention.

Barnardo’s calculated that every £1 spent on social prescribing delivers long-term financial benefits of about £1.80, through reduced pressure on mental health services and more indirect impacts such as reduced costs for dealing with antisocial behaviour, hospital care, housing problems, children being taken into care and truancy.

There is a long way to go in terms of funding and resources required, and an integrated national strategy is urgently needed to make this proposition a reality.

Dr Marcello Bertotti, Reader in Community Health at the Institute for Connected Communities, University of East London

Useful references

• Project report: A two-year evaluation of the Young People Social Prescribing (YPSP) pilot
• Social prescribing for children and young people
• Barriers and facilitators to social prescribing in child and youth mental health: perspectives from the frontline