Conclusion

There has been much discussion about whether there is a crisis in terms of child and adolescent mental health. In this course, you have explored your own opinion on this debate as well as considered relevant data. While most children and young people are well, increasing numbers of them are reporting a probable mental health disorder. Unfortunately, those that require professional help are not necessarily receiving this, due for example to a lack of availability of CAMHS. The course also provided you with the case study of Lily, through which you investigated how a common mental health problem, that of anxiety, can result in the issue of school refusal. You explored ethical issues around forcing young people to return to school, as well as ways that CAMHS can help.

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course K119 Wellbeing across the lifecourse [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .