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Visit the charity's profileIt is estimated that one in four of us will experience a mental health problem every year. This costs the UK economy more than £100 million annually and is predicted to cost the global economy $16 trillion by 2030. More importantly though, the impact on individuals, families and friends can be immense, making mental health one of the major global health challenges of the 21st century.
We know that the vast majority of adults suffering from a mental health problem start developing it before the age of 18. Yet research from Sussex has shown that up to one in five children experience mental health problems - and up to 8% of children and young people are deliberately self-harming.
The number of under-sixteens hospitalised after self-harming has almost doubled in the last five years.
These figures are shocking, but there is hope.
For example, Professor Gordon Harold (Professor of Psychology at Sussex) has shown the importance of the family environment in combating these problems. His research dismantles the argument that genetic factors are the primary influence on children's mental health and development. The implications and opportunities of this for vulnerable children and families are huge.
Our research in this area is changing the way government and family-policy advocates work with families of all types, recognising the long-term benefits of early intervention strategies for today's children and future generations of families. This is often being seen as identifying issues at a very early age and stepping in with an intervention to stop problems before they begin.
These 'interventions' can be as simple as having a conversation. For example, Professor Harold spoke at an academic conference in 2015 focusing on the needs of adoptive families and children. Afterwards, a mother approached him and told him about her family. She had heard him speak on a previous occasion, specifically about the discovery that positive and supportive parenting helps children with complex needs no matter what age they are or whether they are genetically related to their child or not. She had been inspired to talk to her adopted teenage son about Gordon's research.
Shortly after their talk, her son came to her and handed over a knife. He told her he would no longer use it to self-harm, because he felt he mattered to her and she mattered to him. He said he realised that it was their relationship that was most important to him, not his belief that his behaviour was inevitable due to his genes.
In December 2018, Universities UK listed Professor Harold's work as one of the UK's 100 best breakthroughs of the past century for its significant impact on people's everyday lives. The full list included breakthroughs such as penicillin.
To help everyone living with mental health problems, we need to better understand the causes of those problems; find innovative ways of treating them; build a global community to influence public policy around mental health; and make it one of the priorities in public health funding considerations.
We are working hard to address these areas. Your support will help us to take this work forward.
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