Written question WQ82501

At the onset of the pandemic, additional resources were released to health boards to support the maintenance of essential mental health services for the whole population. Welsh Government also provided additional funding for mental health services to increase surge capacity for inpatient mental health services and to significantly expand the capacity for self-referral tier 0/1 support for low level mental health issues. This includes our CALL mental health helpline which provides 24/7 support via telephone and text.

We have produced the Young Person’s Mental Health Toolkit which links young people and their carers to websites, apps, helplines, and more to build resilience across six categories; anxiety, low mood, keeping active and healthy, bereavement, coronavirus information, and crisis support. The simple design enables users to take control of their mental health through a medium that suits them, with information, self-help, and advice about how to seek further support embedded throughout.

We also continue to invest in our Whole System approach to improve the emotional and mental well-being of children and young people and through the Together for Children and Young People Programme (T4CYP) programme which has been extended to March 2022.

In addition to expanding our universal access to mental health support, we have also targeted additional funding to support children and young people with more complex needs. The Integrated Care Fund (ICF) supports a wide range of projects and services to improve well-being and in 2019-2021 £7.5m was allocated for this support, including for children with a disability, and a further £2.4m was allocated to supporting carers.

We also provide grant funding to a number of third sector organisations which give support to disabled people and carers. For example, we have allocated £360k in 2020-21 to the Family Fund to provide grants to support families of disabled children. We allocated £75k in 2020-21 to Whizz-Kidz to increase life satisfaction and happiness of young wheelchair users in Wales through sports and movement based skills programmes in health and education setting.

It is important that all sectors of society understand the challenges experienced by unpaid carers every day and can support them to manage their wellbeing. We have funded Carers Wales in 2020-21 with £60k to strengthen their psychological and wellbeing support services. Their “Me Time” online sessions offer carers the chance for a simple break from their caring role, as well as useful guidance on how to manage their mental health and wellbeing. They have also recently launched a new Listening Support Service which offers carers a chance to chat to someone who understands the challenges of caring. The trained callers provide emotional support and a listening ear to support carers, wherever they are in their caring journey. The service is provided as part of the Carers Wales “Carer Well-being and Empowerment” project funded via our Third Sector Sustainable Social Services Grant Scheme (2020-23).