Influencing Youth Mental Health Provision in Highland
At Inspiring Young Voices, we consulted with young people ages 18-26 in Highland on mental health support and services. Their views were collected using a survey, online focus groups and a mental health writing residential.
Through these three methods we found out their thoughts on existing services, how accessible support is, barriers that prevent their access and what mental health support they would want to use.
When asked about what existing support services (in person and online) the two most common responses were NHS services or ‘don’t know/none’. It is important to note that of course, there are lots of services and support that exists in Highland, but if young people don’t know what these are, they are going to have a much more challenging time accessing them. The remaining participants listed a mixture of localised services, text-based support, charities and other third-sector organisations.
We asked these young people about how easy it is to access mental health services in Highland, including any barriers they face in accessing support. The most selected response was that accessing mental health support in Highland is ‘difficult’, with the main barriers mentioned by participants being: waiting lists (including processing times and high demand for services), transport difficulties and location of services, lack of knowledge of services or where to find them, not fitting criteria or not being seen as ‘severe enough’ to get support, financial costs (e.g. private support & transport) and limited existing resources.
Participants were also asked about what services or support they would want to access if it were available to them. They were given a list of examples that they could select from and add to, and each of the existing options was selected by at least 11/26 participants, which shows that this group of young people were interested in a wide range of online and in person mental health support options. The most popular services selected by this group were: in-person 1-1 conversations with a mental health professional (e.g. a counsellor), video chats with a mental health professional, online web chats with a mental health professional and in-person peer support groups.
This was a small study, as we were limited in our staffing availability, but in future consultations, we would aim to consult with a wider range of young people and focus on including areas of Highland that we were unable to engage with on this occasion.
We have included a section of this report dedicated to potential solutions to some of the barriers raised by the young people in this consultation. These may not all be feasible due to finances or resources, but it can provide some possible next steps and actions that can be taken to address these issues. We recommend reading the ‘Discussion’ section for a more detailed overview of the young people’s responses and the ‘Potential Solutions and Recommendations’ sections for what could improve youth access to mental health services.
Our full report can be accessed here