What Mental Health Support Works For Which Young People With Symptoms Of Anxiety And Depression?

Background

It is well-documented that more young people are experiencing anxiety and depression. Getting support early can help young people get better faster and avoid long-term problems. However, most young people who struggle with their mental health do not receive the help they need. Young people from certain minority groups (e.g. those from non-White backgrounds or who are LGBTQ+) are less likely to get support. If they do access support, minoritised young people are also less likely to find services helpful. 

New services have recently been set up to help more young people with their mental health. These include Mental Health Support Teams in schools and Early Support Hubs in local communities. They are alternatives to NHS Talking Therapies and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. However, we do not know which services are best for which young people. Finding this out would help young people get the type of support that is right for them and reduce the length of time spent on waiting lists.  

This research aims to find out which types of mental health services can help different young people. I aim to identify strategies which can reduce inequalities in who receives helpful mental health support. In this research, I will focus on young people aged 16-25 with symptoms of anxiety and depression.  

Involving young people 

The plans for this project have been shaped by involving young people with lived experience of mental health problems and using mental health services, as well as parents with experience of supporting their children with mental health problems. A lived experience advisory panel (LEAP) will be involved at all stages throughout this project.  

Methods  

This project is divided into three separate work packages: 

1. I will access existing national data from Mental Health Support Teams, Early Support Hubs, NHS Talking Therapies and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services to find out which young people use which services. This existing data has been linked with the 2021 census, which contains much better information about people’s backgrounds and who they are than has been previously available. I will compare the backgrounds of those who use services with the rest of the people in their local area to see if some groups are less likely to get help. I will also check if some groups improve more in certain services.  

2. I will explore what young people think about different types of mental health support using a qualitative approach. This will take place in services in London, the Midlands, and the North of England. I will interview young people and staff across a range of services, and observe staff meetings and triage decisions. I will aim to find out:   

   - What young people like or dislike about different mental health services.

   - What types of mental health support young people find helpful.

   - How staff decide which young people to accept into services.

   - How staff decide what support to offer young people. 

3. The final component is a realist review, which will combine findings from work packages 1 & 2, as well as search for existing research that explores how receiving mental health support helps young people and young people's experiences of receiving mental health support. I will synthesise these findings to build theory regarding what mental health support works for which young people with symptoms of anxiety and depression. This theory can be used to improve services and inform future intervention development. 

To find out more information, please contact Dr Becky Appleton at r.appleton@ucl.ac.uk