Teenage girls need strategy for help

Women’s charity the YWCA has expressed concern that teenagers are
not included in the government’s strategy to improve women’s mental
health, launched last week.

Mandana Hendessi, the YWCA’s director of policy and campaigns,
said that young women aged 13 to 15 years were most likely to
self-harm, with those in prison and young Asian women at
particularly high risk.

Meanwhile, Caroline Lindsey, the co-chairperson of the child and
adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and psychological
well-being module of the National Service Framework for children,
warned last week that it was necessary to be realistic about the
time scale for implementing change.

Speaking at a conference, organised by the Harrogate Centre for
Excellence, Lindsey said: “Even though the government has short
timetables we know we are embarking on a long-term process. We need
to be thinking in terms of a 10-year plan.” She added that it was
important to ensure staff were appropriately trained and that
children’s services were child and family-centred, comprehensive
and collaborative.