Youth Access responds to the Independent review of mental health conditions, autism and ADHD, published today.
The Fonagy review, published today, reinforces what young people have been telling us for years: their distress is real and worsening; the current system of support is not meeting the scale or nature of their needs; and these realities arevhaving harmful and enduring impacts on young people’s lives and futures.
The Government commissioned review is clear that continuing on this trajectory is not an option. It sets a path towards a new model of care – transforming the system of support towards prevention, early intervention and public mental health and wellbeing alongside a stronger system-wide response to the wider social and economic drivers of distress.
We welcome the review's conclusion that diagnosis cannot be the only route to accessing mental health support, and its recommendations to move towards a needs-led model of support alongside access to diagnosis and specialist care where needed.
The expansion of earlier, community-based support – including through full national coverage of early support hubs - will be essential to delivering this wider needs-led system. We particularly welcome the review's recommendations onthis.
We hope this review catalyses much-needed and overdue investment and transformation across health and local systems, with the needs of children and young people firmly at the centre.
"Young people have been telling us for years that their needs don't fit neatly into diagnostic categories, service thresholds, or organisational boundaries. Too many are left without support because they are not sick enough to qualify for one service, and have nowhere else to turn.
The Fonagy Review now makes the consequences of this failure impossible to ignore. Young people's distress is real and rising. Waiting for help can make things worse, and inequalities are deepening for young people facing discrimination and marginalisation.
The Government must now move from identifying the problems to taking action. The review recognises the value of early support hubs as part of a wider system of earlier, community-based support. Youth Access and our members are ready to work with the Government to make this a reality."
- Cassandra Harrison, CEO of Youth Access
Early support hubs as a core element of the wider-needs led system
Early support hubs fill the gap between wider universal support and specialist clinical services, and full national coverage is necessary to address the current fragmented landscape of provision. We strongly welcome the review's recommendation on this.
Young people, services and charities have fought hard for recognition of this vital provision through the Fund the Hubs campaign since 2020.
Young people have made clear that their mental health doesn't exist in a vacuum - which has been strongly evidenced by the review. A young person struggling with anxiety may also be experiencing insecure housing, financial difficulties, relationship breakdown or social isolation - compounded by discrimination and existing inequalities. Those wider circumstances can be the barriers that prevent them participating in education or employment. They want services that respond to the whole of their life.
The early support hub model is already designed around this reality - providing counselling and wellbeing support, drop in advice and and guidance, and employment support – with existing services successfully integrating Individual Placement Support – a further recommendation for roll out from the review.
Now the Government must act
The Government’s manifesto committed to providing open-access mental health support for children and young people in every local community. It has already recognised the value of this model through its investment in 24 early support hubs. We now need to see this commitment taken to scale:
- An early support hub in every local authority area for young people up to the age of 25 providing mental health support and practical advice and guidance across wider needs, including tailored employment support, ending the postcode lottery in access and outcomes. The Youth Access Quality Framework provides the implementation framework by setting out what high quality provision looks like in practice.
- Long-term, sustainable funding and stronger commissioning, recognising open access early support hubs as essential infrastructure rather than short-term or additional provision.
- Young people’s expertise at the centre of implementation, ensuring services are designed around what makes it easier to seek help, build trust and get support when it is needed.
- Stronger integration across local systems, connecting early support hubs with NHS services, education, employment and wider community support including Young Futures Hubs so young people can access the right help as their needs change.
