News release
Date: Friday 26 July 2013
New sites to join Children and Young People’s IAPT programme
The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme has selected 24 new
sites to join its Children and Young People’s programme. The new sites are based across
England, extending the reach of the programme so that more children and young people
across the country will benefit from improved Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
(CAMHS) that are personalised and tailored to them as individuals. The new sites mean
that the programme will be working with services covering 54% of 0-19 year olds in England
by the end of this year.
Children and Young People’s IAPT aims to support local CAMHS in the NHS, Local
Authorities and Voluntary sector, to work more closely with its young clients and their
families through feeding back the outcome of treatment during therapy sessions. Services
joining the programme must involve children, young people and families in service design,
and improve access to the best possible evidence based practice.
The programme is a four year initiative initially commissioned by the Department of Health,
which began in 2011. Each year it provides sites with an opportunity to join, with this year
seeing a significant rise in the number of applications received.
Care and Support Minister, Norman Lamb said:
"We want all children to have good, safe mental health care - this is an essential part of our
commitment to improve the health and well-being of children and young people.
"We already know that most lifelong mental health problems start to develop by the age of
14 and early interventions can help someone to manage their condition or recover
completely.
"That is why we will continue our drive for better care and to expand this programme so that
more children can be treated."
The CYP IAPT programme involves children and young people in its design and throughout
their treatment and has been very well received by children, young people and their families
and staff alike.
“It means if we go off track or get a bit lost along the way, we can both figure out how to find
the way back again” says a young person from YoungMinds’ Very Important Kids Group. “It
supports us to feel more in control of its direction – to understand when things are working,
when things are not and what we can do about it.”
Young people in Oxford commented “I think anything that raises awareness of mental health
issues and gets people taking about it is a good thing, but what’s really good is that CAMHS
IAPT should make it easier for young people to get help! Really good [outcomes measures],
as I can see how I am improving each time. I can also reflect on the meeting afterwards.”
Collaborative working is a fundamental part of the programme, with teams committed to
working with children and young people locally, listening to their wishes and preferences.
Sites that are already part of the programme support and mentor new sites. Services within
the programme have reported improved outcomes and working towards clear, shared goals.
Half of children and young people with long term mental health problems first experience
symptoms before the age of 14 and three quarters of them before their mid-20s. Giving
children and their families the right help through a broad range of support from the outset
and through early and effective intervention when problems first appear can make a real
difference to young lives.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
IAPT is hosted by NHS Improving Quality (NHS IQ). Established 1 April 2013, NHS IQ brings
together a wealth of knowledge and experience gained from several previous legacy organisations, to
provide improvement and change expertise to help improve health outcomes for people across the
NHS in England.
For further information and a list of the 24 new teams that were selected for the programme please
contact Senior Communications Manager Yesret Bi on 07500 915519 or email
yesret.bi@nhsiq.nhs.uk
For further information about the CYP IAPT programme see www.iapt.nhs.uk
For information about young people’s participation in IAPT see www.myapt.org.uk