NYA’s response to the Independent review into prevalence and support for mental health conditions, ADHD and autism, chaired by Professor Peter Fonagy.
”The National Youth Agency welcomes the Fonagy Review’s recognition that young people’s mental health is shaped not only by access to clinical services, but by whether they have supportive relationships, places to belong and opportunities to participate in their communities. Its findings make a strong case for every young person to have access to high-quality youth work in their community, alongside timely diagnosis, specialist treatment and appropriate support in education.
The review is clear that universal, community-based youth settings can help identify emerging needs early and provide support before difficulties escalate, particularly for young people who may be less likely to engage with formal mental health services.
The loss of youth clubs, community spaces and skilled youth workers should therefore be understood as more than a reduction in leisure provision. It weakens the social infrastructure that helps protect young people from loneliness, isolation and worsening mental health, with the greatest impact often falling on those already facing disadvantage.
The Local Youth Transformation programme provides a vital first step in helping local areas build stronger, more joined-up youth services around young people’s needs as a key part of that social infrastructure and ecosystem. Young Futures Hubs can put this into practice by bringing open-access youth work together with targeted mental health, employment and other support, so young people receive help earlier and in places they trust.
Additionally, we are calling upon the Government to strengthen the Statutory Duty for youth services. A clearer and more enforceable duty would help ensure that every young person can access safe, welcoming local provision and a trusted youth worker, rather than support depending on where they live or reaching them only once needs have become acute. A strengthened Duty would not replace clinical care; it would provide a vital protective layer around it - supporting belonging, community connection and earlier intervention, while helping specialist services focus on young people who need clinical treatment."
National Youth Agency
