Access to mental health services for children with social work involvement: From research to campaign

Julia Mannes’ NIHR Three Schools’ mental health Fellowship earned national recognition, becoming a focus of the “Children at the Table” campaign. This landmark campaign, led by the five biggest children’s charities in England —The National Children’s Bureau, Barnardo’s, Action for Children, NSPCC, The Children’s Society — spotlighted her findings on access to mental health care for children living in poverty and those with social work involvement. Featured on outlets such as the BBC and Sky News, and supported by policymakers, the campaign brought her work to the forefront of national conversations surrounding mental health reform.

The NIHR Three Schools Mental Health Programme funded seven Masters Fellows to support research and capacity-building that can help to reduce inequalities in care for mental health problems. One of these researchers, Julia Mannes from the University of Cambridge, undertook her Fellowship within the “COACHES” study at the Applied Social Science Group. Her findings underscored the urgency of reforming policy for access to children’s mental health services.

At the heart of Julia’s work, lies a distressing discovery: the most vulnerable children, such as those living in poverty and those involved with social work services, are two to three times more likely to be rejected from mental health services than their peers. This is despite evidence that these groups experience considerably higher levels of mental health need.

Julia’s Fellowship embraced a participatory approach, engaging families, young people, clinicians, and policymakers from the outset. “By involving experts-by-experience, clinicians, and policymakers throughout my Fellowship I was able to hone into what mattered to those with lived experience as well as bake in practice and policy relevance throughout,” reflected Julia. She added, “These discussions were incredibly important in making sense of my findings.” These discussions revealed that the social context of young people living in poverty or with social work involvement were often judged too “unstable” for mental health services to offer help. Julia reflected that “This exclusion could mean that the most vulnerable children are missing out on support.”

Following her findings, the National Children’s Bureau approached her to be spotlighted in the national “Children at the Table” campaign. “Children at the Table” launched in coalition with England’s five leading children’s charities: The Children’s Society, Barnardo’s, Action for Children, NSPCC, and the National Children’s Bureau. This campaign aims to put children’s needs and voices at the heart of government’s decision making. Together with her advisory groups of practitioners, experts-by-experience, and policymakers, Julia developed a nuanced set of recommendations and messaging that underscored the urgent need for inclusive mental health care policies (linked here).

The campaign culminated in significant national media attention, including a feature on the BBC. This exposure not only highlighted the pressing issues identified in Julia's research but also brought her NIHR Three Research School’s findings to a broader audience. The attention led to an invitation to brief senior officials from the Department of Education, an important step toward transforming her research insights into meaningful policy change.

A highlight of the campaign was ensuring that individuals with lived experience, like Taliah Drayak, were actively involved in all outreach activities. Taliah created a short video clip, designed for social media, to help communicate Julia’s findings in a compelling, accessible format.

Reflecting on her experience, Julia expressed her gratitude for the support of the NIHR Three Schools Mental Health Programme: “My Fellowship allowed me to not only investigate disparities in mental health care access but also contribute to a national conversation on mental health equity for children with social work involvement and those living in poverty.” With continued support from the NIHR and ongoing collaborations through COACHES, Julia and her colleagues are committed to ensuring that children’s voices and needs remain central in the pursuit of fairer, more accessible mental health care.