Children In Leeds 'Alone' and 'Unheard'
Children in Leeds and across the UK feel 'alone' and 'unheard'
That's according to Childline - service manager Elaine Chambers says they've also had a lot of calls about mental health concerns "we've had 85,000 counselling sessions for people with mental health related concerns so that's equal to one call every six minutes and that was over the last year"
"They feel as if they're often left to fend for themselves and they find it so difficult to access services. I think it's so sad when we think about young people who are talking about self harm or suicide or being unhappy or having mental health problems."
They're most concerned that the number of kids struggling to access help services has gone up by over 1-hundred-percent.
"**When they do get an appointment they often find that it's weeks or months ahead, so it's the intervening period and that's why they come back to Childline. They feel like they're coping alone with all these serious issues and they're worried and they should be able to get help to rebuild childhoods and be happy."
The NHS in Leeds recently undertook a review of mental health services across Leeds for children and young people and is working with other partners in health and social care to make changes to the way support is offered in a bid to tackle some of these issues.
A spokesperson said: “Working with our partners, we know there is a real need to make sure children and young people can access the right support when they need it, so we are bringing about some big changes and improvements in children’s mental health services in Leeds.
“We know that schools are already providing a really effective link to early support for pupils as soon as a problem is identified, and we are providing extra funding to strengthen this.
"We are also working to address waiting times and creating a simplified and more joined up system for children and young people being referred to mental health support services.
"We are also developing digital tools young people can use to develop emotional resilience and wellbeing, including a new website www.mindmate.org.uk which has been designed with input from young people.
"We want to make sure young people are aware of what support is out there."