Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services YOUTH Survey 2015/16
We gathered feedback from 4,352 young people who shared their views and opinions with us about the Child and Adult Mental Health Service (CAMHS).
Summary
In May 2015, Healthwatch Telford and Wrekin’s YOUTH (Your Own Unique Telford Healthwatch) group held an event called the World Café – a conversational event which tasked young people with discussing various different issues in an open, structured setting. - Participants highlighted young people’s emotional and mental health as a priority.
Responding to this, YOUTH wanted to conduct a survey to understand:
- what young people knew about the Child and Adult Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and whether or not they had accessed the service in the past
- whether they were experiencing stress, what the main sources of stress were, how they coped with stress
- whether they had considered, or attempted – self-harming
Key Findings
- 18.6% of all respondents indicated that they were aware of CAMHS prior to completing the survey and 6.8% had used the service
- Awareness and use of services was greater amongst females than males. 22.8% of female respondents were aware of CAMHS compared to 13.7% of male respondents
- When asked to rate levels of distress on a scale of 1 to 10, the average score for all respondents was 4.6. Responses from female respondents indicated that they were more distressed than males
- Homework was the greatest current cause of stress for all respondents (46.4%) followed by exams (40.7%) and teachers (25.4%)
- Family and personal relationships were a major factor contributing to stress amongst those accessing CAMHS
- Social media – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – was a greater cause of stress amongst Transgender respondents than all other respondent categories
- Respondents listed talking to friends, listening to music, playing console games, sleeping and watching TV as ways of trying to feel better. A large number also indicated that they eat to make themselves feel better
- Most respondents (66.7%) indicated that they would look for help from parents, with more than half (52.7%) also seeking help from friends
- Transgender respondents were least likely to seek help from parents, teachers, tutors and friends but most likely to use social media and the internet as a source of help
- One fifth of respondents (20.8%) indicated that they had self harmed or had considered intentionally harming themselves. Females (27.8%) were more likely to have done so than males (14.5%). Amongst those respondents who had accessed CAMHS, 63.1% had self harmed or had thought about doing so
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If you need this report in a different format, please get in touch:
info@healthwatchtelfordandwrekin.co.uk
01952 739540
