Manx Care’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) has seen a stark increase in those awaiting assessment or treatment within the service over the past two years, with an overall increase of 83% compared to September 2020.
The 2021 Isle of Man census highlights that there are 12,427 young people aged between 4 and 17 resident on the Island. The current CAMHS caseload stands at 1,370, with very few of those individuals being under the age of 4. This means that around one in 10 children and young people on the Island aged between 4 and 17 are currently in receipt of, or are awaiting treatment with, CAMHS.
These figures are significantly higher than comparative figures in the UK, and there are a number of factors that give rise to this difference. Firstly, the Isle of Man does not currently have a multi-agency strategy for dealing with mental health and emotional wellbeing in children from an early age. This means that, due to the current shortage of early intervention in partnership with other agencies, a large number of those children and young people who require mental health assessment and treatment are referred to CAMHS, placing added pressure on the team and creating longer waiting lists. The UK, by contrast, has a number of other agencies that people can attend before attending CAMHS.
In addition, this sharp rise over the past two years is likely in part due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and consequent lockdowns. Repeated periods of isolation, as well as frequent disruptions to schooling and routines, have impacted everyone, including the children and young people in our community.
In line with increased demand for children’s and young people’s mental health services, Manx Care is working to establish a multi-agency approach, with the recent ‘Thrive Framework for System Change’ conference organised by the Integrated Mental Health Services team to bring together representatives from multiple agencies across Government, the private sector and the third sector. The next ‘Thrive’ stakeholder event is planned for December 2022.
The Thrive Framework is needs-led, and aims to establish an integrated, multi-agency network that will support the mental health and wellbeing needs of children, young people up to the age of 25 and the adults who look after them. The support network is based on a defined set of principles, and aims to effect groups working together in partnership rather than entities working to support individuals in silos.
Ross Bailey, Head of Integrated Mental Health Services, said:
“At the moment, we’re establishing a comprehensive picture of the current system of services for children and young people’s mental health across the Isle of Man, and implementing the Thrive Framework where possible. The Isle of Man does not currently have a national strategy for this, and so we’re contributing to the development and implementation of a new Mental Health and Wellbeing strategy, founded upon the principles of integration, early intervention and recovery, which is really important for the reduction of waiting lists and making sure people get the right help at the right time.”
As well as this, Manx Care is working in partnership with Kooth PLC, a digital mental health and wellbeing company working to provide a welcoming space for digital mental health care – we are proactively marketing KOOTH within individual schools, resulting in a significant increase in uptake.
In addition to these developments, a key component of Manx Care’s ‘Restoration and Recovery of Elective Activity’ programme (aimed at reducing waiting lists across a number of clinical specialties) is the commissioning relationship Manx Care has formed with Minds Matter, an Island-based organisation run by the highly respected mental health charity, MCH Psychological Services. This partnership has enabled 106 children and young people to begin evidenced-based psychological therapies over the course of the last six months, a figure that will continue to rise over the course of the next quarter.
Manx Care is committed to working collaboratively with the Island’s community, key stakeholders including Government departments, and organisations within the third sector to establish an integrated and sustainable mental health and emotional wellbeing strategy for the Island focused on early intervention. This will support children and young people to develop resilience and coping mechanisms at a young age, in turn promoting positive mental health and emotional wellbeing, allowing for early identification and prevention of issues, and ensuring appropriate interventions are made in a timely and proportionate manner.
