A new study by researchers at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge has found that only 55.5% of surveyed young people who used “formal” support provided by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) found it helpful. Along with recent surveys of students at Oxford and across the country, this study has led to a call for a serious rethinking of how mental health services should work.
The research recommends reform to create a more nuanced approach to mental health services that would recognise how services can work in conjunction with other support networks accessed by people. According to Senior Postdoctoral Researcher Dr Emma Soneson: “More joined-up working between families, schools, and health professionals is essential, especially for more vulnerable young people.”
Data from the OxWell Study Survey, in which nearly 24,000 people aged from 11 to 18 participated, shows that 27% of young people reported accessing some form of mental health support in the previous year. Amongst the respondents, between 87% and 91% of those who accessed “informal” support (reaching out to parents, carers, and friends) found it to be helpful.
These findings follow the Oxford Student Union’s (SU) latest welfare report, in which 38% of surveyed students disclosed that their mental health had declined since the start of their studies at Oxford and that 44% had experienced depression. Significantly, 46% of respondents also answered yes when asked if they had experienced a mental health crisis whilst at Oxford.
These results, coupled with the findings of the OxWell survey, come in the wake of increasing concern about a mental health epidemic in the UK, and the ability of services to cope with the growing pressure. Such concerns were evident in the research carried out by the Policy Institute at King’s College London and the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO), which revealed that between the academic years of 2016/17 and 2022/23, the proportion of undergraduate students at UK universities who reported experiencing mental health difficulties rose from 6% to 16%.
Data highlighted in Oxford’s Counselling Service Annual Report traced a similar trajectory to the national picture, with the percentage of students reporting having anxiety increased from 16.7% in 2017/18 to 33.7% in 2021/22. This figure fell to 31.1% for the year 2022/23, but anxiety remained the largest presenting issue for Oxford students.
Cherwell’s 2023 investigation into Oxford’s own counselling services found that they were inadequate in dealing with the increasing mental health issues of students. The SU’s report also found that only 35% of students were satisfied with the welfare support available, mirroring the discontent with national services found in the OxWell study. Additionally, a survey conducted by the Tab and Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), a suicide prevention charity, found that just 12% of respondents believe their university handles the issue of mental health well.
Whilst the SU’s report notes a correlation between the high intensity of the Oxford workload and an exacerbation of student mental health, with 74% of students reporting that their university course adversely affected their mental health, the increasing rates in mental illness on a national level are undeniable. The results of the national OxWell survey point to the insufficient nature of mental health services as they currently function.
Further, the shortcomings of mental health services provided by CAMHS were evident in research conducted by BMC Psychiatry, in which just 29.39% of young people who had used CAMHS said that they were generally satisfied with the services. When asked the same question, 29.27% of their parents said they were satisfied. The research also supported the view that young people’s user satisfaction is underrepresented in literature about mental health services despite a strong correlation between satisfaction and clinical outcomes.
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