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<p>Good mental health is a priority for the Department. Mental health issues can have
a profound impact on the whole of a child’s life, including their attainment. Schools
can play an important role in promoting mental wellbeing and supporting pupils, but
teachers are not mental health professionals and knowledge and practice in the mental
health field is constantly developing. Action taken by them is best supported by advice
from specialist services, as well as by access to treatment for pupils where needed.
We are investing an additional £1.4 billion in children’s mental health services in
the five years to 2020.</p><p>Our schools/Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
(CAMHS) link joint training pilot, across 225 schools in 27 Clinical Commissioning
Groups, identified a range of different models for schools working more closely with
single points of contact in specialist mental health services – making use of the
additional investment. These resulted in a strengthening of communication and joint
working arrangements between schools and specialist services, with quantifiable improvements
in understanding of the referral routes amongst school staff – leading in many cases
to higher quality and more timely referrals.</p><p>We will be considering with the
Department of Health how best to build on the results of this pilot to improve links
between schools, colleges and NHS mental health services as a part of our joint children
and young people’s mental health green paper, to be published by the end of the year.
We will look at any funding requirements in that context.</p>
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