Research into improvements made to mental health support for young people in Scotland has found limited progress over the last five years and limited transparency.
SAMH, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland and Young Scot commissioned research to assess what improvements had been made since the Youth Commission on Mental Health Services (YCMHS) made over 100 recommendations in 2019.
The review assessed progress against a focused set of the recommendations and found little evidence of improvements, partly due to a significant lack of publicly available information.
Where information was available, the report found that access to services varies significantly by location and demand for counselling services is outweighing provision. A key commitment for at least 1% of NHS funding to go towards young people’s mental health services has also not been met, with transparency around funding remaining an issue.