£7.1m of funds for children’s mental health

AN ADDITIONAL £7.1m in funding aims to protect, improve and support the mental health of children and young people in Wales will be announced by Health Minister Vaughan Gething today.

The new investment will support the implementation of the Welsh Government’s response to the recommendations made by the National Assembly’s Children, Young People and Education Committee in its ‘Mind over Matter’ report last year.

The funding will build on previous investments to improve child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and will also support the whole-school approach to improve mental health and wellbeing in schools.

The Minister will make the announcement during a conference in Cardiff today, which will bring together Wales’ directors of education to discuss ‘Developing a partnership Approach for Mental health and Wellbeing’.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething said: “Improving mental health for everyone is a top priority for me as Health Minister and for the Welsh Government.

“The extra funding I’m announcing today is a significant and meaningful investment to help us do more to protect, improve and support the mental health and wellbeing of our children and young people by further developing these services.”

The £7.1m investment is in addition to £1.4m being invested by the Welsh Government in a programme of mental health inreach support for schools to strengthen the support from CAMHS in schools in four pilot areas across Wales.

Minister for Education Kirsty Williams said: “The mental health and wellbeing of our children and young people is an absolute priority. This funding will help build on the support we provide to schools, including through our child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS), to ensure our pupils are fully supported through each stage of their education.”