New resource to support mental health in the early years

The UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) and University of Cambridge’s Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL), have launched, ‘Understanding and supporting mental health in infancy and early childhood – a toolkit to support local action in the UK’.

The aim of the resource is to support service leaders, commissioners and policy teams to develop a whole-system approach to support the mental health of babies and young children and to enable them to develop the capabilities to be mentally healthy throughout their lives.

It has been developed in response to evidence that shows the mental health needs of babies and young children, which present differently than in older children and young people, are not well understood and often overlooked.

The toolkit acknowledges that it can be harder for professionals to work together to promote and protect mental health at this stage. It suggests practical steps to help professionals work together, facilitating shared understanding and constructive discussions about the needs of babies and young children in local communities.

Sally Hogg, Senior Policy Fellow at PEDAL, said, ‘Many services across health, social care and education, have a role in supporting babies and young children to be mentally healthy. At present, professionals from these different settings and sectors can have different views on what mental health means for babies and young children and use different language to describe it. This makes it harder for them to work together to meet children’s needs. Our toolkit will help to move towards a shared understanding, which is vital for effective action.” 

‘The toolkit contains a new framework to describe mental health in early childhood. Often the drive to improve services is, understandably, focused on future outcomes such as school-readiness or preventing later mental health problems. The being and becoming elements of this framework prompt decision makers to focus on children’s mental health in the present, as well as the future.’ 

Joanna Moody, Senior Policy Adviser – Child Mental Health and Wellbeing, the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), added, ‘There are many services including early childhood education, social services, maternity, health visiting, primary care, mental health and voluntary sector that have a vital role to play in supporting the mental health of babies and young children, and that of their parents and caregivers.  Supporting multi-sector working, along with addressing the structural inequalities that affect families, can help give children the best start in life.’

The development of the toolkit forms part of UNICEF UK’s Early Moments Matter campaign which calls on the Government to deliver a National Baby and Toddler Guarantee. The Guarantee would set out the basic services that every young child in the UK is entitled to -including mental health support, making sure that families know what support is available for their baby’s health, wellbeing and early education – from the start, no matter who they are or where they live.

• The toolkit is available here