Parents in Suffolk facing barriers and delays in getting mental health support for children
It comes as experts warn the Government will not boost economic growth until it tackles the mental health crisis in young people
Two in five parents who have sought help for their child's mental health said they did not get the required support, according to a survey.
The Children's Society said the polling showed the "barriers and delays" parents and children are facing in the current system.
The charity said its survey of 3,000 parents in England and Wales whose children are aged between four and 17 "reveals a system struggling to keep pace with soaring demand".
Just more than a third of all parents (38%) said they had sought help for their children, and of that proportion around 41% reported they "did not receive the support they needed".
About half (52%) of parents said current thresholds to get help and long waiting times are barriers preventing their children from getting the support they need.
Fiona Hannah from Teenage Mental Health Ipswich said: "It's not like if your child has a broken leg, you go to A&E and you know what you're doing - mental health doesn't present physically, so it can be difficult to know where you're going with it. Is it a low mood? Or is it suicidality. There isn't a blood test to see if you have depression or not.
"The world is quite a scary place at the moment and children are struggling to make sense of a lot of things. Often teenage years are difficult, having to make career decisions, social and educational pressures."
According to NHS data, one in five children and young people experience a common mental health problem such as anxiety or depression.
The latest research comes as experts warned the Government will not boost economic growth and productivity until it tackles the mental health crisis in young people, which is costing more than £1 trillion in lost earnings.
Four mental health organisations have called on ministers "to acknowledge the scale of the crisis in children's mental health and ignore 'wishful thinking' that it is exaggerated or a result of 'over-medicalisation'".
Fiona added: " There's a massive difference between an adult having anxiety and a child having it. If an adult has anxiety - they have autonomy, they can go out and get help, they can change jobs if they're unhappy. A child can't do that, a child is stuck in a place and rely on adults to help and support them.
"If you're a child and your starting to get anxiety at school and you're not happy at school - you tell someone and nobody listens and there isn't the support there for you, that can make things significantly worse.
"Imagine as an adult, if you're at work and you're unhappy and someone was making you anxious and you said something and no one did anything, you'd just go - wouldn't you? Whereas kids can't do that - it's harder for children than adults."
A Government spokesperson said: "Children with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they deserve, which is why this Government will fix the broken system and ensure mental health is given the same attention and focus as physical health.
"As part of our Plan for Change, we will dramatically increase access to mental health support and create the healthiest generation of children ever.
"We will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers, and we've already announced £26 million to open new mental health crisis centres."