Future Minds – led by Centre for Mental Health, Centre for Young Lives, the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition and YoungMinds, with support from the Prudence Trust – today launches a plan for the Government to fix the children’s mental health system with a detailed roadmap for action.
The plan is released alongside a survey of 1,009 Mumsnet users with children aged 5–17, showing mental health worries are now a major part of family life, with 76% citing social media and online content as one of their top concerns.
Too many children and young people are struggling with their mental health, and many do not get the support they need until they reach crisis point. This has lasting consequences for their futures, and for society – placing growing pressure on public services and the wider economy.
The roadmap sets out decisive actions to expand community-based early intervention, reform specialist and crisis services, and harness digital innovation to close treatment gaps and improve outcomes. It argues that prioritising community support, widening access to effective interventions, and using digital tools can ensure children and young people get help earlier, before crises escalate.
Rising levels of distress, poor access to support, and limited government action are putting a generation’s wellbeing at risk and placing growing pressure on public services and the economy. Around one in five young people aged 8–25 now report a diagnosable mental health problem such as anxiety or depression, with girls and young women facing particularly high rates, and the UK lags behind comparable nations on key wellbeing measures. Worsening youth mental health is being driven by stagnant living standards, rising child poverty, fewer opportunities, the lasting impact of the pandemic, increasing online harms, and the erosion of trusted relationships.
We’re calling for decisive action to expand early intervention, strengthen specialist and crisis care, and develop safer, more accessible digital services. If we are serious about building a healthier, more confident, and more productive generation, transforming children and young people’s mental health must be central to that mission.
Andy Bell, CEO of Centre for Mental Health, said:
“The mental health of children and young people is under unprecedented strain. It is disrupting education, limiting future employment, driving up public service costs, and threatening the UK’s long-term prosperity. Too little is done to prevent mental health problems in childhood. Too many children face long waits or are turned away from specialist care, while early support is often patchy or unavailable.”
