Children and young people's mental health and emotional wellbeing

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Overview

Mental health matters as much as physical health. Learning to manage our wellbeing is a lifelong process. Everyone feels worried or sad at times, but sometimes, we need extra support. Getting help early can prevent problems from getting worse.

Emergency or urgent help

If you or a young person is in danger, or might hurt themselves or another person, call 999 right away. If things feel really hard and you need help fast, see: Risk Support

Find support in East Sussex

We want you to know what help is out there:

East Sussex 1Space directory

The 1Space directory lists the services available for young people and their parents or carers. You can search by location or type of need, such as 'anxiety'.

Let's talk about it

People talk about mental health in different ways. In East Sussex, there are five categories of support. They match the level of need a young person has:

Thriving: doing well
Getting Advice: needs information or guidance
Getting Help: needs short-term support
Getting More Help: specialised or ongoing support
Getting Risk Support: urgent help to stay safe

Use guidance below to find the right support for you, or someone you know.

1. Thriving

Young people are thriving when they:

manage school, friendships and family life well
can cope with everyday challenges
have normal ups and downs

Feeling sad, angry or stressed at times is part of growing up. It does not always mean there is a mental health problem.

Even when thriving, young people benefit from activities that:

support wellbeing, confidence and resilience
build positive relationships and social skills
help them feel connected to their community

An example of ‘thriving’: A youth club can help young people thrive.

2. Getting Advice

The right advice can help families and young people cope. It can stop problems from getting worse and avoid the need for specialist help.

Getting advice might be right if a young person:

has only recently started to struggle
sometimes struggles a lot but feels better now
is mostly coping but sometimes feels stressed or low
bounces back from challenges but has issues like changes in mood or sleep.

An example of ‘Getting Advice’: Contacting a national charity like Young Minds. They offer a free helpline.

3. Getting Help

‘Getting Help’ means support from a mental health professional.
It might be right if a child or young person:

needs support that is specific to them
needs to work towards agreed goals to improve their mental health
is finding more difficult
their mental health is starting to affect school, friendships or daily life

Examples of ‘Getting Help’:

seeing a professional at an i-Rock centre
speaking to a counsellor or a mental health professional at school or college

Your school or college might have someone you can talk to about your mental health. This could be someone from a Mental Health Support Team (MHST). Ask a teacher or staff member to find out if this is available. There is a list of schools with MHSTs here: Education settings supported by mental health support teams | East Sussex Local Offer

4. Getting More Help

Sometimes getting help is not enough. A young person may have tried to get help and things did not get better.

They might need more help if:

they would benefit from working with a professional for longer, or more often
they need a specific type of help, for example if they are autistic
home life or other areas of their life are very challenging

What difficulties might they have?

not able to do daily activities like going to school or seeing friends
not able to look after themselves, for example needing help to eat, or shower
feeling very distressed every day or several times a week

5. Getting Risk Support

Risk support is for young people who might harm themselves or someone else. They may have had professional help before or been offered it, but they are still at risk.