• 06 July 2018
• Posted in: Healthcare

Our latest in a series of events on Children and Young People’s Mental Health was another great success. A range of high-quality speakers presented on a wide range of topics, from policy such as the recent green paper and CQC’s CYPMH thematic review, to sociological causes like parent maltreatment and structural poverty. Delegates, speakers and sponsors brought numbers to around 250, which made for excellent networking opportunities and many thought-provoking discussions.

"I have a theory that people turn 22 and forget what it's like to be a child." Claire Eastham, Bestselling Author and Blogger.

The his morning address, the conference chair Terry Hanley from the University of Manchester briefly but brilliantly contextualised the issues of children and young people's mental health. Kicking off the first of many engaging presentations was best-selling author and blogger Claire Eastham. She spoke about her personal experience of anxiety which was triggered by her time in secondary school where students are made to speak in front of their classmates and go through puberty in the presence of their peers. Following this, Ellie Isaacs and Daniela D'Urso, representatives from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Education respectively, they summarised the green paper published in December 2017. To close the morning session, Gore Muchemenye, Consultant Psychiatrist at Cygnet Health Care, talked us through an interesting case study of a patient Cygnet was asked to assess by the NHS.

"People with mental health issues on average die 20 years early than those without." Dr Annie Swanepoel, Elysium Healthcare.

After the morning break, delegates heard from Aaron Sefi, Research and Evaluation Director at XenZone, about their online counselling and emotional well-being platform for children and young people. Its users have responded positively to the anonymity granted to young people and it being available 24/7. The Care Quality Commission's representative Sabina Hafesji, Regulatory Policy Officer - Mental Health. She spoke on the CQC's CYPMH thematic review and their findings including service users' disappointment at how disjointed the system was and placing more importance on person-centred care. Dr Annie Swanepoel, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Clinical Director for CAMHS at Elysium Healthcare gave a particularly engaging talk on the significance of early intervention.

Following a lunch break of excellent food and lots of networking, Chairman and CEO of Healios, Richard Andrews, highlighted insights and leanings on how to integrate digital into CAMHS clinical pathways. Beginning to explore the sociological side of mental health issues that were more prominent in the second half of the day, Helen Barnard, Head of Analysis at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation presented on issues of poverty. Children from low-income backgrounds are more likely to have mental health needs and less likely to get help. Matt Buttery, CEO of Triple P also spoke on the role and importance of parenting.

"We need high quality mental health services but we also need to help families 'swimming against the tide' of poverty." Helen Barnard, Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Amy Orben from the University of Oxford dispelled myths of social media having damaging effects on children and adolescent's mental health, a belief that has been popularised by the media. Penultimate speaker Dr Rachel Hiller, University of Bath gave an insightful talk on trauma and PTSD in children and how it develops. Closing the day, Marc Bush, chief Policy Adviser at YoungMinds gave an excellent overview of the CYPMH challenges to 2020 and beyond.