Oxford Health behind new PHE mental health campaign
With over half of parents saying their children's mental wellbeing has been one of their biggest worries during Covid, Oxford Health is supporting a new Public Health England ‘Every Mind Matters’ campaign to support children, young people and their parents.
Most families have experienced upheaval in their daily lives during the pandemic. With children and young people now back at school or college, PHE’s new campaign provides NHS-endorsed tips and advice to help children and young people’s mental wellbeing and equip parents and carers with the knowledge to support them.
A new Public Health England survey of over 2,500 parents in England, found that two thirds said their children’s behaviour has changed since the start of the pandemic (69%) and, when asked their top three worries around coronavirus, over half (52%) said the mental wellbeing of their children topped the list of their biggest worries1.
The poll came ahead of the new Every Mind Matters campaign encouraging parents and carers to look out for signs of mental ill health among children – and offers tips to support families.
The advice available on the Better Health – Every Mind Matters website has been developed with support from leading children and mental health charities. It also provides tools to help young people build resilience and to help them to look after their mental wellbeing.
A short film has been created featuring a range of celebrity parents including Davina McCall, Marvin Humes and Edith Bowman, reading extracts from best-selling author Charlie Mackesy’s well-known book; The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse.
Vicky Norman, Oxford Health’s head of CAMHS for Oxfordshire said: “The lockdown has been very challenging for young people and their families. We are incredibly lucky that along with our staff, the young people we see have embraced the use of digital technology which has meant we have been able to continue offering interventions during the lockdown period. We will continue to offer a mix of digital and face to face options as we adjust our service options in response to COVID and safe restrictions.”
For more information search Every Mind Matters website: www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/
You can also find a lot of useful resources in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service section of the Oxford Health website: https://www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk/camhs/advice/
1 Survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of Public Health England. Total sample size was 2,559 parents in England who have children aged 5 to 18. Fieldwork was carried out online between 4th to 11th August 2020.
Published: 8 September 2020