"More support needed for children’s mental health in rural areas, says Centre for Mental Health report"

"Children living in remote rural and coastal communities in the UK are at risk of missing out on mental health support, says a report published today by Centre for Mental Health.

The space between us, by Louis Allwood, explores evidence about the mental health and wellbeing of children aged between 8 and 13 years living in isolated communities across the UK. Funded by BBC Children in Need, The space between us finds that children living in remote areas face isolation and struggle to get help for their mental health because of poor transport, a lack of safe spaces to meet in and poor digital connectivity.

Children living in poverty, disabled children, children from marginalised communities and children whose gender or sexual identity is different to most of their peers face especial disadvantages in remote and rural areas. Rural poverty is less visible than in urban areas but can leave children especially isolated and excluded.

The space between us also finds that rural areas are often poorly served by specialist mental health services, and years of austerity have eroded local services, such as early years and youth work, that help to boost children’s wellbeing and prevent later crises.

The report calls for action to boost children’s mental health in rural and coastal communities. This includes funding for local councils to improve wellbeing, investment in digital infrastructure in places that have been left behind, and developing promising approaches to supporting children’s wellbeing such as mobile support services, peer support networks and better use of existing community spaces."

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Self-harm in a time of isolation: What is the evidence to support mobile and internet-based psychological interventions for self-harm?

"Summary

In this blog we summarise the findings and implications of a recent systematic review of studies evaluating the effectiveness and acceptability of mobile- and internet-based psychological interventions for self-harm in adolescents and adults. The COVID-19 pandemic means that mental health services need to adapt quickly to the clinical need for remote care at a time when we anticipate an increase in the incidence and severity of depression and anxiety. There are already particular concerns about adolescents, who have had to adjust to major changes in their schooling or employment, their home environment and family dynamics, and in their social interactions at a critical stage of development. Their need for digital mental health interventions has never been greater. However, digital delivery of psychological interventions should not compromise effectiveness, acceptability, or equitable access.

Only six of the 22 papers included in this systematic review focused on young people aged 18 years and under, but given the paucity of studies (and systematic reviews) on this topic we felt it was important to appraise the evidence presented with a view to its application to adolescent mental health service delivery. This review found limited evidence to support the effectiveness of mobile- and internet-based interventions to address suicidal thoughts and behaviour in adolescents (and adults), and no indication that a particular modality (text messages, mobile apps, internet-based modules) was superior to others. One of the two studies using blended (therapist contact and remote therapy) interventions was found to reduce suicidal ideation to a greater degree over time than a waiting-list control although this was trialled in an adult population.

In this blog, we also consider how NHS mental health services might respond in terms of implementing findings from research on mobile- and internet-based psychological interventions for self-harm in adolescents and adults, paying particular attention to equitable access to services."

Posted on 18 August 2020

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"360 degree safe, the award winning online safety self-review tool for schools."

The tool provides -

• Information that can influence the production or review of online safety policies and develop good practice.
• A process for identifying strengths and areas for development.
• Opportunities for commitment and involvement from the whole school.
• A continuum for schools to discuss how they might move from a basic level of provision for online safety to practice that is aspirational and innovative.

Link to further information

"Coronavirus: online safety"

 "Catch 22 has published findings from an online harms consultation carried out between June and July 2020. Responses from young people, frontline professionals, tech platforms and others show that: 32% of young people have seen harm occur offline because of something which happened online; 73% have seen content online that they’ve found concerning: only 27% feel safe online all the time and 40% said they report online harms to the platform they are using. 38% of frontline practitioners said they do not feel sufficiently trained to deal with online behaviour."

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Coronavirus: Childline counselling and NSPCC helpline contacts

Source: NSPCC Learning

Date: 10 August 2020

NSPCC Learning has published a briefing using insight from Childline counselling sessions and NSPCC helpline contacts to highlight the impact of child sexual abuse on children and young people during the coronavirus pandemic. Key findings include: there has been a threefold increase in the number of Childline counselling sessions about child sexual abuse within the family, from an average of 8 sessions per week before the pandemic restrictions were imposed to an average of 23 per week since 23 March 2020; adults contacting the NSPCC helpline since lockdown began are more likely to be worried about sexual abuse that is happening in the child’s own home - this was a concern in 53% of contacts about sexual abuse before the pandemic restrictions were imposed, compared to 77% since 23 March 2020.

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