The Right Way Forward – Mental Health

What else does the UNCRC Committee say about children’s right to mental health?

The UNCRC Committee has spoken about the importance of high-quality mental health care and provisions as part of wider conversations about the health of children and young people, most notably in General Comments 15 (2013) and General Comment 4 (2003).

Do children and young people feel their right to mental health care is being met?

“Children and young people do not feel like they get the necessary mental health support for their rights regarding mental health to be upheld. Concerns are numerous, but most notably, the experiences we have shared and heard indicate that there is not a wide enough range of mental health facilities at school to support students in times of crisis regarding their mental health. Additionally, resources that can help children with their mental health are too difficult to come across, and a persisting stigma around mental health helps contribute to this issue.”

“Waiting times, of course, massively play into the issue of access to mental health support, a challenge that is exacerbated in rural areas. Additionally, children and young people, while acknowledging the need for safeguarding measures to protect those at risk of harming themselves or others, feel that these boundaries can, for children in a mental health crisis, disincentivize seeking support. As such, more emphasis should be placed on using schools to educate young people, especially as they approach adulthood, on how to spot and support friends throughout periods of poor mental health, while still understanding when adults need to be involved.”

“Another key concern of children and young people is that not enough is being done to reflect on the unique challenges that neurodivergent children can face as regards to their mental health. Some children with diagnoses of learning disability and mental ill-health cannot access appropriate services”

What do we want to happen?

• A more deliberate strategy on how to secure consistent and quality counselling services for schools across NI is needed in order to ensure that mental health support does not become a “postcode lottery” for children and young people.
• A greater incorporation of mental health is also badly needed in the curriculum of schools, as this will better equip teachers and students alike to support their students and peers throughout their mental health struggles. This, of course, has to be part of a wider effort for greater awareness and dispelling of misconceptions.
• For the sake of children’s mental health, and, indeed, all children’s rights issues in NI, we implore the leaders of NI to incorporate the UNCRC and ensure that no child or young person is left devoid of options to fight injustice and the abuse of their basic rights as a child.
• Children’s mental health is one of the most pressing issues in NII today, and more needs to be done to address it, especially in terms of education and waiting lists. Only by allocating resources to this root cause of so many societal issues will we be one step further toward making NI a better, rights-respecting place for children and young people to live. As with all rights-based issues, the incorporation of the UNCRC would prove massively beneficial.

You can find out more about NICCY’s work on mental health here