Mental health services for Glasgow kids get £500k boost

Councillors agreed to distribute the amount to third sector organisations to roll out more support for young people.

The grants would enable community organisations to provide early intervention and preventative support according to a council report.

The report said recent analysis of the CAMHS waiting list shows that 50 per cent of referrals are “inappropriate” and that children could benefit from a different type of support.

Explaining more about the services, at the most recent city administration committee, councillor Chris Cunningham said: “It is proposed this is done through grant funding to third sector organisations to offer local support taking into account the needs and the context of individual neighbourhoods across the city.”

Support described as Tier 1 and Tier 2 will be offered.

Outlining the type of help, Councillor Cunningham said: “Tier 1 and Tier 2 level support is universal and targeted community support and services that address lower level mental health issues that broadly speaking do not require clinical intervention.”

A council report said: “The aim of the grants programme is to further enhance the system of third sector support available to children, young people and families in their local communities. This will help to strengthen neighbourhood supports, and to appropriately divert children, young people and families away from more targeted services in circumstances where a clinical intervention is not required.”

It added: “A recent analysis of the CAMHS waiting list suggests that around 50 per cent of referrals to the service are inappropriate, and that these children and young people could benefit from a different type of (non-clinical) support.

“The grant funding of £500,000 will be used as a test of change to ascertain the benefits of utilising this form of funding to support third sector organisations to strengthen the network of local supports for children, young people and their families, with a specific emphasis on coaching families to understand their children’s mental health and neurodiversity needs.”

Organisations can apply for the grants this month.