Essex County Council. Photo: ANDRA MACIUCA.
- Credit: ANDRA MACIUCA
The introduction of specialist teams comes following a rise in the number of young people being looked after for mental health issues.
Essex County Council’s (ECC) people and families policy and scrutiny committee heard that many teachers are fatigued as a result of the coronavirus crisis and do not have the skills to deal with many of the issues that children are now living with.
The most common are eating disorders and anxiety.
Sarah Garner, associate director of Southend, Essex and Thurrock Children & Young People’s Emotional Wellbeing & Mental Health Collaborative – a group of seven CCGs and three local authorities across Southend, Essex and Thurrock (SET) facilitating children’s mental health interventions – told ECC that by 2025, 75 percent of mainstream schools will be covered by mental health specialist teams in a single of access.