Scottish Ballet conference will look at aiding the minds of young people

A ballet company is to hold a conference exploring how therapeutic dance can help young people’s wellbeing amid a “significant” increase in mental health problems.

Scottish Ballet’s Moving Minds conference, which is being organised in partnership with the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH), will bring together healthcare professionals, arts and health specialists and education professionals.

Latest figures published in December showed that 11,816 youngsters were waiting for an appointment with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Scotland at the end of September, and that 1,978 had been waiting for more than a year.

Experts have said that exploring non-medical interventions which can be prescribed more quickly, such as dance programmes, should be considered as part of the overall management of mental health problems in young people.

Dr David Caesar, an emergency physician and a senior strategic adviser to the Scottish Government, said: “The benefits of social prescribing have been well established.

“With the significant increase in mental health problems among young people, a holistic approach to the management of the mental health of young people is required which includes medical and nonmedical interventions.”

The conference at Tramway in Glasgow in May will offer an opportunity to listen to presentations, discuss, and network.

Dancers attend a dress rehearsal of the Snow Queen.