Children and Young People’s
Mental Health
In response, 2025–2026 has been a year of tangible action. We expanded co produced tools, launched new partnerships, and secured significant new funding to transform the support available to young people and families across South London.
This year, we made significant progress in improving access to support, strengthening communication with families, deepening community partnerships, and developing innovative models of early intervention.
Our work reflects the concerns raised by thousands of families and young people through years of community listening. Parents have repeatedly shared that navigating CAMHS feels confusing, isolating and overwhelming. Young people told us that long waits heightened their anxiety, while families highlighted the urgent need for clearer guidance and more culturally relevant support.
Supporting the mental health of children and young people remains one of South London Listens’ most important commitments.
Key progress in improving ADHD support for Latin American families
This year, we launched a new partnership between South London Listens, SLaM Recovery College and Latin American community organisations to co develop and deliver a culturally specific course for parents supporting young people with ADHD. This work is in response to concerns raised through community listening, where Latin American families described low engagement with services, barriers around language, long waiting times, and a lack of targeted support for neurodiverse children.
Across our more than 100 Be Well sites, several organisations work closely with Latin American families, including Familia y Neurodiverse, Familias y Autismo, Agape, the Family Emotional Wellbeing Project, Empoderando Familias and Parent Action.
A community survey of 64 parents across Southwark and Lambeth highlighted the scale of need:
34.4% had a child or family member diagnosed with ADHD.
51% reported ASD diagnoses.
43.8% were waiting between 8 months and 4 years for assessments
Parents asked for more support to understand ADHD, learn strategies for supporting children at home and school, navigate mental health services, and understand assessment pathways.
In response, South London Listens and SLaM Recovery College have adapted an existing ADHD parent course to reflect the specific needs, language and cultural context of Latin American families. The course provides a safe and supportive learning space where parents can share experiences, build confidence, and develop strategies to support their children. It also strengthens relationships between communities and CAMHS by improving understanding of pathways, processes and available support.
This partnership exemplifies South London Listens’ commitment to equity, co production and culturally responsive mental health support and represents a major milestone in this year’s work.
Continued rollout of the CAMHS Virtual Waiting Room
Long waiting times remain one of the greatest challenges faced by families. Listening to communities, we heard repeatedly that poor communication during the wait created fear, frustration and uncertainty. In response, we continued to scale and enrich the CAMHS Virtual Waiting Room, which now supports 10,000 families across South London. More than 60% of users have engaged with the new co produced content developed this year.
The virtual waiting room provides clear information, wellbeing resources, and borough specific guidance,helping young people and families stay informed and supported while awaiting assessment or treatment. This digital innovation represents a major shift in how CAMHS communicates with families, ensuring that no child or parent feels left in the dark while waiting for help.
Improving communication with parents and carers
Families have consistently told us that CAMHS pathways can be difficult to navigate. Many described struggling to understand thresholds, processes or what to expect after making a referral. Young people have also shared that this lack of clarity intensified anxiety and discouraged help seeking.
To address this, we worked with young people, parents, carers and clinicians to co create a new CAMHS Journey of Care Infographic.
Designed to be clear, accessible and easy to follow, the infographic provides:
A step by step guide to the Community CAMHS journey
Consistent information across all four boroughs
Signposting to community based support
Simplified explanations of complex processes
Inclusive and readable formats for diverse families
This resource responds directly to issues repeatedly highlighted through community insights and academic evidence, including dispersed information, misunderstanding of thresholds, variable communication and low mental health literacy.
Its aim is to reduce stress, improve clarity and promote equity by ensuring families receive high quality, standardised information.
The infographic will be available in multiple community languages and formats suitable for mobile devices, print distribution and sharing through schools, GP practices and grassroots organisations.
EarlyBIRDS: Prioritising community-led early intervention and prevention
Another significant milestone this year was securing £500,000 from the Maudsley Charity to develop EarlyBIRDS, a two and a half year programme co designed with King’s College London and four grassroots community partners in Lambeth and Croydon.
EarlyBIRDS will develop and test single session interventions (SSIs) for 16 to 19 year olds experiencing emerging anxiety or depression. These sessions will be:
Co-designed with young people
Delivered in trusted community settings
Supported by trained youth workers
Accessible online
This programme offers rapid, evidence based support to young people who might otherwise receive none due to long waits, stigma or structural barriers. Co production is already underway, and the project has the potential to transform early intervention pathways across South London.
Looking ahead
The progress made last year has been key in helping to build a more compassionate, accessible and community rooted mental health system for children and young people. Our key priorities moving forward include:
Launching and embedding the CAMHS Journey of Care infographic across all boroughs.
Expanding the Virtual Waiting Room with more co produced content.
Implementing EarlyBIRDS interventions in community settings.
Scaling culturally responsive support, building on the success of the Latin community ADHD programme.
Deepening collaboration with schools, youth organisations and Be Well partners.
South London Listens will continue working with communities, clinicians, schools and local authorities to ensure that every child and family in South London has access to clear information, meaningful support and high quality mental health care when they need it most.
Why this matters
Earlier access to information, support and intervention helps reduce distress for children and families, improves experience of care, and supports more effective use of specialist mental health services.