Young People: Self-Harm

Baroness Massey of Darwen Excerpts

Tuesday 6th December 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, I think something is seriously wrong, and something has been seriously wrong since 1948. Mental health has been a Cinderella service, and children’s mental health has been, if anything, even worse. We are committed to spending an extra £1.4 billion; we are spending more money on mental health liaison services in A&E departments; and we are putting in 56 new beds in CAMHS units to prevent the out-of-area treatments or what have you. But we have a huge way to go, frankly.

[Baroness Massey of Darwen (Lab)]

My Lords, is the Minister aware of a new report by the Children’s Society on adolescent neglect, which suggests that parental and societal failure to admit to the needs of adolescents and address those needs is having a detrimental effect on adolescent health, especially mental health? Does the Minister agree that it is the case that parental and societal neglect is vitally important and should be addressed? Does he have any comments on how to address it?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

There is no question about it that parents and society are a critical part of any way to tackling childhood mental health problems. There is no doubt about that. We have just published a work for parents on how to deal with the issue of self-harm, for example, when it is your own child. It is a hugely complex area, frankly. Social media are a big part of this and family break-ups are a big part. I am not a psychiatrist, but when you are going through a period of huge emotional turbulence, cutting yourself or inflicting physical pain on yourself gives you some form of control. It is too complicated and too difficult for me to answer that question as well as I would like to.