Mental health amongst the young

I have written before about the serious shortcomings in the provision for mental illness, particularly locally. But I make no apology for returning to it again.

In particular, I want to tell you about the alarming rise in mental illness among the young. We are only just beginning to appreciate the pressures under which we place children as they grow towards adulthood.

Data collated by the MindEd Trust shows that half of all mental illness first occurs first before the age of 14. Three quarters is established before the end of higher education.

Only six per cent of the mental health budget is spent on young people, and only three per cent of the national medical research budget is spent on mental health.

Far too many of the young people concerned go on to take their own lives, as I’m only too well aware. My job is often to represent their grieving families at the inquest, and then again perhaps later in a civil claim. A case recently involved a talented young man apparently with his whole life before him. He was due to go to Cambridge University. He didn’t get there. He took his own life on the railway tracks near his home. Nobody knows why.

We must recognize those pressures and do all we can to mitigate them.