Getting Help – An early support service for children and young people across Tees Valley with their mental health
From North East & North Cumbria NHS
We'd like to listen to children and young people, their parents and carers and other key stakeholders (such as people working in educational settings and local organisations) about what currently works well, what can be improved, and what they'd like to see from these services in future.
Why are we doing this?
Children and young people’s mental health has never been so high on the public agenda. It’s vital that we have the basic facts if we are to realise our vision of better mental health for all children, wherever they live, whatever their background or class.
Through the implementation of national and local initiatives to provide earlier mental health support, we are seeing and hearing that many children and families are receiving support much earlier and are evidencing improved outcomes as a result.
We want to be able to deliver sustainable services, improve access and outcomes and reduce health inequality across Tees Valley. To do this we need your help to tell us what is working, what's not working and what we need to do more of.
How are we doing this:
Between 4 December 2023 and 19 January 2024, we are listening in a variety of ways:
- Facilitated conversations about mental health with children and young people, mainly in schools and across voluntary sector services
- A survey for young people aged 11-25
- A survey for parents and carers of children and young people
- A survey for stakeholders, current providers and staff
- Interviews with local authority colleagues.
How can you help?
We are keen to work with anyone who supports children and young people, or parents and carers (whether that's in schools, community settings, Family Hubs or elsewhere).
- If you would like to hold a facilitated conversation with children or young people, you can use the facilitated discussion guide, available to download below, to ask questions and record key themes. Notes from your discussion can be submitted online at: https://eu.surveymonkey.com/r/GettingHelpDCRT
- The children and young people's survey can be completed online at: https://eu.surveymonkey.com/r/GettingHelpCYPSurvey.
- The parent and carer survey can be completed online at: https://eu.surveymonkey.com/r/GettingHelpPCsurvey.
- If you work in an organisation that supports children and young people, you can complete a stakeholder survey online: https://eu.surveymonkey.com/r/GettingHelpStakeholder
If you’d like paper copies of the children and young people survey, or the parent and carer survey (including pre-paid return envelopes), you can request them by sending an email to necsu.icb.involvement@nhs.net. We can also provide A3 posters to promote this listening exercise.
Easy-read and audio versions of the children and young people's survey are also available. If you'd like to request these, or make an enquiry about other alternative formats, please get in touch.
The feedback we receive will be analysed independently to produce a report that will be publicly available. We will continue to involve patients, families, members of the public and stakeholders in conversations around how we develop and improve the mental health support offer for children and young people.
Please consider sharing this information with people in the Tees Valley who you think would be interested in taking part.
Thank you for your support, and if you have any queries about this upcoming listening exercise, please get in touch at necsu.icb.involvement@nhs.net.
