Supporting Children and Young People Experiencing a Mental Health Crisis

Who is this document for?

This document is for anyone who may encounter a child or young person experiencing a mental health crisis.

What will this document support you to do?

This document will introduce the basic components of the Framework and provide an overview of the core principles of good crisis support.

When might this document be most helpful?

This document will be most helpful for when initially looking to learn more about the Framework.

Aims

This Framework provides the principles of what cohesive and effective support for children and young people experiencing a mental health crisis should look like across Scotland.

The Framework seeks to:

• Outline how GIRFEC and mental health supports come together across specialist and community services to respond to a mental health crisis;
• Support joint working across different services and structures to support improvements, and;
• Improve awareness and understanding of how we support Scotland’s children and young people while they are experiencing a mental health crisis.

The expectations set out in this Framework reflect existing good practice and established responsibilities across services. For many practitioners, this will describe what they already do through safeguarding, child protection, GIRFEC assessment and planning, and local escalation arrangements.

At a local level, the Framework is a tool for partners, service managers, commissioners, planners, and practitioners to reflect on their current practice. The principles of good crisis support should inform an integrated, consistent approach to the provision of crisis support for children and young people. This should always have GIRFEC at its core.

The Framework also highlights the contribution and role which a range of services can play when supporting children and young people experiencing a mental health crisis. This includes specialist crisis services, health services, social work, and other statutory services. It is important to note that this will include services which are not typically designed to deliver crisis support, but which may be the first port of call for a child or young person when they ask for help. This may include third sector services, schools, youth groups and other settings.

At a national level, the Framework is a tool to inform future policy development and guidance, supporting greater consistency in expectations around crisis support for children, young people and the adults that support them.