Three out of five young people have either experienced a mental health problem themselves, or are close to someone who has, according to new research.

It also revealed that more than half of young people wouldn鈥檛 feel confident approaching teachers or other school staff if they needed help.

Nearly two in five said they wouldn鈥檛 know where to go to access support within school.

While one in five had accessed support for their mental health within school, half said they didn鈥檛 find the support helpful and two out of three said they weren鈥檛 involved in decisions made about that support.

They survey also found that fewer that one in three school pupils who had experienced mental health problems had used mental health services.

Access to timely support

Jo Holmes, 香港六合彩精准资料鈥檚 Children, Young People and Families Lead, said:聽

鈥淭hese worrying figures from Mind are further evidence of the mental health crisis facing our young people. It鈥檚 why it鈥檚 vital we must ensure young people know where to turn when they are in need and that they have access to timely support. This includes being able to see a professional, trained school counsellor; who can provide crucial support during difficult times.

Specialist services

Jo added: 鈥淥ften children and young people see their struggles as a burden to teachers and support staff. They worry about taking up staff time, while feeling that others have more need than they do. These feelings just increase their emotional distress.

鈥淲e know school staff simply don鈥檛 have the time and resources to respond to the rising need in schools. They can spot the signs but need specialist services to provide the more in-depth work. It鈥檚 vital access to all these services is improved 鈥� and school-based counselling needs to be at the heart of this.鈥�

Increasing pressure

Louise Clarkson, Head of Children and Young People at Mind, said: 鈥淒espite the high levels of poor mental health among young people, many are not accessing support and those that are aren鈥檛 always getting what they need.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not schools at fault 鈥� we know they are under increasing pressure to provide wellbeing support for pupils at a time of rising demand and gaps in NHS mental health services. We know that many are doing the best job they can with limited resources and staff need the right expertise and support from other parts of the system. The Prime Minister鈥檚 recent announcement about training for teachers is welcome but it鈥檚 only one part of the picture 鈥� school staff need to know that if they are starting conversations about mental health with a young person, there are services in place to refer them onto.鈥�

More than 12,244 pupils at 17 schools in England and Wales took part in Mind鈥檚 survey, which was carried out between October and November 2018.

A separate survey by Mind of more than 1,000 school staff revealed that nearly three in four felt confident that pupils who needed it were being adequately supported.

However, around聽half feel that they do not have enough information to support pupils with poor mental health.

Outside of school, staff were aware of other support but less than half were confident that they would be able to help pupils to access it.

To find one of our counsellors or psychotherapists via our聽Therapist Directory.