Written question WQ99176

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy sets out the actions we are taking across the Welsh Government and with partners to improve mental health and wellbeing, and to improve mental health services. The Strategy includes a range of measures that we will use to track our progress.

The Welsh Government is using our NYTH/NEST framework to bring a partnership approach to mental health and wellbeing support for babies, children and young people. We are introducing a new young person’s engagement resource to support settings to gather children, and young people’s views on mental health and wellbeing services so their voices are informing improvement and change to services. We are also publishing podcasts discussing good practice in delivering mental health and wellbeing support.

Children and young people should get the support they need, when they need and we believe there should be no wrong door for mental health support. We are transforming mental health services to provide same-day access, ensuring people of all ages can access the most appropriate form of support at the right time, without delay.

We support a number of third sector organisations who provide a range of specialist services and helplines, and these are advertised in schools, youth clubs and online to ensure young people know about the support available. Health boards also commission a range of third sector organisations to deliver support as part of local mental health services. Health boards also have local arrangements to raise awareness of services, support and how to access them.

We have also published information for schools about services available in each region and the Dewis website offers a comprehensive list of support services searchable by area and specialism. Part of ensuring children and young people are aware of what support is available to them is ensuring that support is joined up and the system is easy to navigate and access. Work is also underway through our NEST framework to achieve a joined-up system. To drive this change, we are developing a No Wrong Door checklist for regions to structure their no wrong door approach and ensure families have easy access to expertise.