Liberal Democrats have today passed an emergency motion at their conference which aims to tackle the high rates of self-harm amongst children.

Commenting on the call for greater support from the education system for vulnerable students former Health Minister Norman Lamb said: 

“The level of self-harm that the Children’s Society have uncovered, especially amongst girls, and those who identify as LGBT, is truly shocking and society needs to do much more to support vulnerability in our young people.

“Our education system must work hand in hand with NHS services and play a central role in protecting children and young adults. More and more people are experiencing depressive episodes, mental distress and chronic low-mood. All schools should offer their students and staff pastoral care or counselling, people are often let down by the postcode lottery of service provision.

“As Liberal Democrats we demand better for our younger and future generations. No child should be left to suffer in silence.”

Notes:

F33B Reducing Self-Harm

Conference notes with concern:
A. The Children’s Society’s recent report, which found that in a survey of 11,000 children, one in six self-harmed and that 22% of girls and 9% of boys said they had self-harmed in the last year.
B. That nearly 110,000 children aged 14 may have self-harmed across the UK during the same 12-month period, including 76,000 girls and 33,000 boys.
C. That almost half of 14-year-olds who said they had been attracted to people of the same gender or both genders said they had self-harmed (46%); four in ten of these children had shown signs of depression (38%) and three in ten had low well-being (30%).
Conference believes that:
i) Happiness with family relationships could be the best protection for children because it has the biggest positive influence on children’s overall well-being.
ii) Schools can play an important part in children’s well-being.
iii) Issues like appearance, gender stereotypes and sexuality should be included in schools when teaching about relationships and sex educations.
iv) Early support for vulnerable children and families in the community can help prevent mental health problems from developing.
Conference reaffirms the Liberal Democrat commitment to:
a) Continuing the roll-out of access and waiting time standards for children, young people and adults.
b) Guaranteeing that people will not wait more than six weeks for therapy for depression or anxiety and that no young person will wait more than two weeks for treatment when they experience a first episode of psychosis.
c) Ensuring that all front-line public service professionals, including in schools and universities, receive better training in mental health.
d) Ensuring that LGBT+ inclusive mental health services receive funding and support.
e) Including in SRE teaching about sexual consent, LGBT+ relationships, and issues surrounding explicit images and content.
f) Allocating a fair proportion of all public funding for medical research to be focused on research into mental ill-health.
Conference calls for:
1. Government to make it a requirement for all secondary schools and colleges to offer access to a counsellor, regularly monitor children’s well-being and ensure mental health support is taken into account as part of school inspections.
2. The inclusion in teaching about relationships and sex education of issues like appearance, gender stereotypes and sexuality.
3. Counsellors and those in mental health provision to be trained in LGBT+ awareness.
4. Government to ensure all young people can access Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services up to the age of 25, rather than 18 or 16.
5. Additional funding for Childline to allow it to provide a 24-hour service that can respond to all children and young people calling with mental health issues.
6. Government to address the £2bn funding shortfall facing council children’s services departments by 2020.