Record number of under 18s referred for mental health treatment

Leading charity YoungMinds has found the number of young people referred to mental health services has reached a record high, according to the latest NHS data.

In March 2022, 90,789 young people were referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health services, the highest figure since the measure first began being collected. ¹ The figure is also a 41% increase on the previous month.

Urgent referrals to crisis care teams in March 2022 almost doubled to 2,547 since March 2019 (1,252). ¹ These referrals include young people who have self-harmed and are suicidal.

Earlier this year the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, announced that the cross-government ten-year plan for mental health will be published by the end of the year.

YoungMinds is calling on the Government to make sure young people are it the heart of the plan, with ambitious departmental goals to help reverse these figures.