Education is the leading source of mental health support for children aged 8 to 16, but slips to third place for young people aged 17 to 24, behind friends and family and online support, in what experts have described as a ‘patchwork landscape’ of provision, recent NHS data has shown.
In 2023, nearly a third of children aged 8 to 16 (32%) sought help for a mental health concern through their school.
But data has shown that once young people aged into the next category, that picture changed drastically: only 13.3% of 17 to 24 year olds turned to an education setting for support, a decline of 19%.
Instead, young people were far more likely to reach out to friends and family, with 45% doing so, while online or telephone support services ranked second at 23%.
Experts have attributed the divide to a combination of structural factors: both the positive impact of the government’s ongoing roll-out of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) in schools, and the long-criticised ‘cliff edge’ between child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and adult services, which traditionally hand over support at age 18.
Paul Noblet, Interim Head of External Affairs and Research at YoungMinds, said: “There’s certainly been an emphasis on rolling out Mental Health Support Teams in schools, and that does seem to be effective.
“But what we’re getting is that patchwork effect — some areas, both geographically and across age groups, have excellent coverage, and others very little.”
However, Paul warned that school-based support must not become a substitute for NHS services.
He said: “The government has to be very mindful that this is not an ‘instead of’.
“Schools might be the right place for young people to first raise problems, but there simply needs to be a mechanism for them to progress quickly into an NHS service if they need it, and that’s only possible when you’ve got a wide range of services in the first place.”
Noblet added that despite investment in school-based support, the system hasn’t seen a ‘commensurate change’ in NHS services.
Having launched in 2018, over 700 MHSTs are now operating across England, covering 52% of the pupil population in more than 10,000 education settings — and the government committed to expanding these teams to 100% of schools in England by 2029-30 in June’s Spending Review.
But MHSTs remain unevenly distributed.
According to the most recent relevant data from the Department for Education, a staggering 69% of MHSTs are based in secondary schools, compared with just 28% in post-16 settings, leaving large gaps for older teenagers navigating the transition into adulthood.
And, for many young people, the drop-off in education-based support is felt most acutely during the transition to higher education.
Rosie Pughe-Morgan, a 22 year old recent graduate from UCL, said she struggled to access help from the university’s wellbeing services after being diagnosed with OCD in her first year.
She said: “I just remember a lot of red tape. A lot of ‘go to this link’ and then ‘we’ll email you in five days’.
“I remember thinking, ‘well the crisis might be over in five days’.”
“It was very hard to find an appointment — it was very much like: you’ll get a 15-minute slot in 10 days.
“It felt overbooked and not worth the fuss.”
Rosie eventually found more reliable support through her academic department and at home.
She added: “My department had an on-campus person to talk to and I used her a lot. But I see that as separate from UCL itself.
“And my mum was a huge support. I was really lucky in that regard, as not everyone has that.”
Her reflections mirror concerns raised by mental health professionals, who have said large institutions struggle to replicate the personalised support systems that smaller schools can offer.
UCL has more than 51,000 students, making it one of the UK’s largest universities.
However, Department for Education data shows that although MSHTs remain more prevalent in secondary schools than in post-16 settings, post-16 settings experienced a larger relative increase — 21% compared with 16% in secondary schools — between the previous and most recent waves, suggesting that these attitudes may already be shifting.
Experts in the sector have said support must remain consistent and reliable beyond school age, as young people face mounting pressures during this period.
Hannah Woods, Head of Schools and Colleges Early Support Service at Anna Freud, said: “At this age there are several major transitions, like moving away from home, adapting to increased academic pressure, managing finances and forming new social networks, that can bring challenges around mental health.
“And we know there can be a lack of established and signposted support within post-16 and higher education settings.”
Services such as Anna Freud focus on early intervention, working directly with schools and colleges to embed a ‘whole school approach’ by training staff, engaging parents and carers, and offering one-to-one clinical support for young people.
Since 2020, the charity has also offered self-referral pathways for those aged 16 and over, after recognising a strong desire for autonomy among this age group.
Hannah said: “Young adults want to self-refer, they want control and the ability to access support directly themselves, and we’ve seen that service flourish.”
She added that the government must also address what she called ‘the economic drivers of distress’ among young people, noting that financial strain is one of the most significant triggers for mental health problems in this age group.
The current cost-of-living crisis has intensified these pressures: a YoungMinds report found that 90% of young people worry about earning enough to support themselves.
NHS data has similarly shown that 69.4% of 17 to 24 year olds with a probable mental health disorder reported financial worries, 20% more than peers without a likely disorder.
It is clear that as students get older, mental health support in educational settings declines, and weaknesses in those systems, as seen in Rosie’s experience, have compounded the challenges young adults face.
Yet, with CAMHS waiting lists in some areas now approaching a year, pressure has mounted on schools and teachers to help with demand.
Reflecting on the lack of funding detail in last week’s budget, Paul added that the government must seize the opportunity to rebuild services ‘sustainably, not with sticking plasters’.
He said: “We’re doing some good things, but it’s also showing us where the gaps are. The current system simply isn’t working for many young people.”
These findings emerge against a stark backdrop: in 2023, one in five aged 8 to 25 were assessed as having a probable mental health condition, continuing a rise seen since 2017 and most notably affecting 17 to 19 year olds.
Featured image credit: Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash
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