Despite the number of children and young people in mental health crises reaching record levels, official figures show it’s becoming harder for many of them to access support. According to analysis of NHS data by the charity YoungMinds, urgent referrals of under-18s to mental health crisis teams are 46% higher in 2023 than they were the year before, with thousands more on the waiting list to access non-urgent intervention. Events such as the Covid-19 pandemic haven’t helped – 83% of young people with mental health needs agree the pandemic made their mental health worse.
Meeting such demand will never be straightforward. But one team trying to do things differently is Cornwall’s multi-agency rapid response service (MARRS). The service is part of the gweres tus yowynk (GTY) umbrella, which is Cornish for “helping young people”. MARRS combines health and social care practitioners (who would usually work in two separate strands) to support children as young as eight, and young people up to the age of 18 for up to 12 weeks. It’s a 30-strong crisis team that works in shifts so support is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
