Around 20% of eight to 16 year olds in the UK had a probable mental health disorder in 2023, according to NHS statistics. This is up from 12.5% in 2017. At the same time, a 2024 report from the Children’s Commissioner for England found that more than a quarter of a million children were not able to access the mental health support they need.
Some have questioned whether we are dealing with a “genuine” mental health crisis or a different problem – a lack of resilience in children and young people. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity, and higher resilience is linked to lower rates of mental ill-health in young people.
