Huge training gap in child mental health

A children’s mental health charity has identified a huge gap in
training in child mental health for frontline staff working with
children.

A training needs analysis carried out by charity Young Minds for
one local authority area revealed 90 per cent of social workers,
teachers and health visitors have had contact with children
experiencing mental health problems but 80 per cent had received no
training.

The charity has called for core training in child mental health
and its professional services manager, Dinah Morley, said: “All
frontline staff working with children need core training on mental
health, on how to identify early signs and how to intervene
early.”

He added: “If staff can identify signs early on then a lot of
problems can be prevented.”

Morley said that local authorities and health authorities need
to decide how to tackle the lack of training in this area.

Key areas of learning identified by 75 per cent of staff across
all the agencies were a recognition of mental health problems,
promotion of mental well being, managing emotional and behavioural
difficulties, and knowledge of local services.