Read our research report
We worked with incredible young researchers, Isaac Hadfield and Joanna Gregory from the University of Oxford, to compile a report all about youth mental health in Oxfordshire. It covers some up-to-date facts and figures about how young people are affected by mental ill health in Oxfordshire, what services are available, and what some of the gaps are.
You can download the report in full, or a short summary if you just want an overview. It’s a great read!
A huge thank you goes to Joanna, Isaac, the University of Oxford, and Oxfordshire Youth in helping us to put this report together! ❤
You can read our introduction for professionals working in the sector from our Founder, Laura, here:
“Mental health services nationally are stretched to breaking. Additional funding is promised to reduce waiting times and reduce high eligibility criteria. Schools, health, and the voluntary sector must all play their part.
We hear these statements often; they’ve become part of the back drop of the work we do every day, whatever our role, with young people. However, sometimes we can become so entrenched in ‘the big picture’ that the voices of the individuals most affected can begin to become drowned out. This report aims to condense some of that ‘big picture’ information for us, so that we can understand it and it’s implications for us at a local level in Oxfordshire. However, our responsibility with this information doesn’t end there – we then need to reflect, question, and be curious as to what this means for young people. Are there gaps in our services for young people to fall through because of funding, age, eligibility, ethnicity, gender, or socio-economic background? Are there assumptions about the needs and wants of young people under-pinning our services that have not been checked or even noticed? Are there new, creative ways to provide support that haven’t been tried yet?
We encourage you to read the report whilst holding the young people you know and work with in your mind – don’t let the statistics and graphs disconnect from the people they originated from. We also encourage you to join us in being brave enough to think radically about our own work, and the work being done throughout the county, to ensure we’re making the best decisions and sometimes taking the right risks, in order to provide the very best support that we can for young peoples’ wellbeing.”
