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).
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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