Mental Health

Impact on children and young people in England

Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2020: Wave 1 follow up to the 2017 survey.
NHS Digital; 2020.
[This is the first in a series of follow up reports to the Mental Health and Young People Survey (MHCYP) 2017, exploring the mental health of children and young people in July 2020, during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and changes since 2017. Experiences of family life, education and services, and worries and anxieties during the COVID-19 pandemic are also examined.]

Peer support models for children and young people with mental health problems.
Centre for Mental Health; 2020.
[Centre for Mental Health was commissioned by Health Education England to explore the implications of expanding mental health peer support for specific groups of people. Peer support offers the potential for children and young people to develop the resilience needed to reduce mental health needs and to recognise their wellbeing needs at an early stage.]

Reflecting on COVID

Alone, surrounded

Fever came
And with it a sledgehammer
To my life
My life that still had
Time to run
But now there is no time to run
Instead I lie here alone,
Surrounded by an army
Of hospital staff who see me
Only through glass windows
Or the shield of PPE
Three thousand people
They say work here
But they won’t see me
Until I run once more
In the news
No longer alone,
Surrounded by other
Elderly with underlying conditions

A poem written by Shane O’Hanlon, who is a geriatrician in Dublin, Ireland.
He has a strong interest in the humanities in healthcare, and previously taught humanities at the Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick. He now lectures on art in medicine and curates a humanities library for students and staff at University College Dublin.