This week, the Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel De Souza, published her report on Children and Young People’s Mental Health.
Its headline finding is stark: the number of children referred to mental health services has reached more than one million, nearly double the figure for 2018-19.
The demand for support is increasing
Sadly, this does not feel surprising. Having worked in mental health services for the last seven years, and in school and community settings for nearly 20 years, I have seen demand for support continue to rise.
The COVID pandemic, the growth in youth unemployment, wider uncertainty about the world young people are growing up in, and the risks associated with social media have all added pressure.
Together, they point to a simple truth: it is increasingly hard to be a young person, and too many are reaching crisis point before support is available.
I am also not surprised by the rise in referral to mental health services because I have seen this first hand.
Why we launched our hyperlocal Wellbeing Hub
In April 2025 we launched the Thatcham Wellbeing Hub, a hyperlocal, open access mental health and wellbeing service in West Berkshire. Within six months of being open we had a waiting list of up to a year, which we are still managing.
Often the young people referred to us (with the biggest referrer being families) are sitting on a NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service waiting list as well but the assumption is made, probably correctly, that our waiting list is shorter than theirs.
It shouldn’t be a competition on who has the shortest wait list, but it is often a postcode lottery.
We chose Thatcham as a place to set up our first (of hopefully many) Hubs because it is often small towns which are overlooked. We feel it is a place where we can make a difference and work with others in the local community to do so.
We need to work collaboratively to find solutions
We use the term ‘hyperlocal’ intentionally. We want to know our neighbourhoods, the people who live there and the challenges they face to really focus how we respond to the need. We also want to work closely with other Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise partners and statutory services to develop a collaborative offer. As the Children’s Commissioner’s report says,
“Even the most skilled mental health and wellbeing practitioners cannot provide the antidote to these challenges alone: they are collective problems that require collective solutions with all the people in a child’s life working together.”
The need highlighted in the report mirrors what we are seeing. This mental health crisis often sits at the intersection of schools, neurodivergence and lack of future direction.
84% of the referrals we have received since we opened have mentioned school as being a contributing factor in why support is being sought out; it is also no surprise that the biggest month for referrals since we have opened was September, the month when schools return.
67% of referrals are from neurodivergent young people, with 49% specifically for autistic young people; we know from research and the voice of young people that mental health services, as well as schools, are not designed for neurodivergent young people, so it is no surprise that they feel the brunt of stress schools can create.
We also have seen a rising need for support for young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). The term ‘NEET’ does not describe the work young people, and their families, are doing to get back to a place where they are reaching their potential – but it does show a cohort we are not supporting well enough as a country. Our aim with the Hub is to do more to support these young people and be there when they need us.
Looking ahead
So, is there hope?
I think there is, and Dame De Souza’s report says so, too. It comes by working together as a system in real partnerships, by listening to young people and what they feel is needed in the support provided to them, and by continuing to advocate for proper funding for the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise organisations who are often doing this work in a localised way in neighbourhoods across the country.