How Barnardo’s BIRD service supports children and young people’s mental health
Rocio Nava, Alex Round, Katie Yau, Nick Treloar, Zoe McHayle, Alex Monks, David Woodhead and Andy Bell
Centre for Mental Health’s Bridging the gap evaluates Barnardo’s Inner Resilience and Development (BIRD) service. BIRD is a holistic, child focussed intervention that offers timely, tailored care and support to children and young people with mental health problems. It primarily supports those who arrive at emergency departments and do not meet the thresholds to be able to access crisis support from Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
The evaluation finds that children and young people who accessed BIRD reported improved mental wellbeing, greater confidence in managing their mental health, and stronger relationships with support workers. 97% reported better wellbeing after using the BIRD service (based on goal based outcome and child outcome rating scale). Half of the 418 children and young people who accessed the BIRD service lived in areas of Merseyside and the West Midlands experiencing high deprivation.
Parents, carers, and families observed huge improvements in their children’s mood, behaviour, and ability to cope with school and friendships. They saw clear benefits, such as better communication with their children and young people and improved understanding of their children and young people’s mental health needs.
The BIRD service demonstrated potential to fill gaps within existing systems, addressing the needs of children and young people who may not meet clinical criteria for CAMHS referrals, but experience significant distress. It highlights that working holistically with the systems surrounding the child or young person, especially the family, are an important foundation of effective mental health support.
The report concludes that BIRD has the potential to reduce pressure on emergency departments and CAMHS crisis teams. Only 2.82% of children and young people were readmitted to the service within six months following BIRD support, substantially lower than the 21.4% emergency department readmission rate reported in the literature.
The report recommends that integrated care boards (ICBs) in England explore the potential to establish an equivalent to BIRD in their areas and commission voluntary and community (VCSE) sector providers for non-clinical mental health support. It also recommends that ICBs improve the coordination of mental health services to children and young people.
