Good mental health underpins all activities that children and young people engage in: learning, playing, interacting socially, communicating, and forming relationships. This project isn't just about children and young people who are having mental health difficulties; it is about improving the mental health of ALL children and young people. Mental health is an integral part of life and that attention to mental health “promotion, prevention and care” should be integral to all agencies working with children and young people. It is very important that the relationships between agencies support rather than undermine this integration. HeadsUpScotland adopts this position and works on the whole continuum seeking to ensure that all three of the following are addressed:
- mental health promotion for all
- prevention of mental health difficulties for vulnerable groups e.g. Looked After and Accommodated Children, children of homeless families, children with chronic illness etc and
- ensuring that those Children and Young People who are mentally ill not only have adequate services but also have their mental health improvement needs attended to.
The purpose of HeadsUpScotland is to make a major contribution to the activity already underway in Scotland to improve the mental health and well-being of children and young people. The Project's contribution is to support the process of implementing the recommendations contained within the SNAP report for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (May 2003). HeadsUpScotland is funded by the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing from May 2004 to September 2008. It is therefore part of the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-being which has identified children and young people as one of six priority areas.
Since May 2004, a number of specific areas of work have been identified which emerged from the SNAP report. These complement the aims of the National Programme for Health and Well-being, and provide further development of the plans for the children and young people target group. These areas of work have been widely discussed with a broad range of stakeholders.
