Mental Health
Mental health
Social factors, such as isolation and not having access to education and training opportunities, are known to negatively affect mental health. Developing integrated care packages for youth mental health services could help to tackle these issues.
Social prescribing (SP) is a pathway of care that helps to tackle the social factors which influence health outcomes. It involves referring patients to a Link Worker, to develop a non-clinical plan that connects patients with local support sources. These can include education, volunteering, social groups, arts, and sports. Reviews suggest that SP positively impacts mental health, yet it is not offered to individuals receiving treatment in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). This could explain why half of all patients attending CAMHS consistently suffer from mental health difficulties, with high rates of relapse often observed.
Working with clinicians, young people and parents/guardians, Dr Daniel Hayes and his team from University College London will co-develop and test a SP pathway. 50% of all young people undergoing psychological treatment with CAMHS will be randomly allocated a Link Worker. The other half will receive a leaflet detailing local support sources and activities (i.e. signposting). They will track mental health and other outcomes, at 3- and 6-months, after the young person has been randomly allocated a support type. They will also conduct interviews to explore views on the social prescribing pathway, including its acceptability and impact.
If results are promising, Dr Hayes will use these findings to conduct a full trial, exploring the clinical and cost effectiveness of the SP pathway.