Under 5s mental health – scaling up provision to transform population mental health

Date: Wednesday 17 June
Time: 12.00pm - 1.40pm

Overview

In England, prevalence of mental disorder is 5.5% in 2-4-year-olds while global prevalence of mental disorder in under 8’s is up to 20%. Developmental and mental health disabilities are estimated to account for 13.3% of the 29.3 million years lived with disability for all health conditions in the 0-5-year age group (Bolajoko et al 2016).  Furthermore, as the foundations for mental health across the life course are laid down in the first few years of life, a sub-optimal start prevents children from reaching their health, social, educational, and vocational potential, leading to poor quality of life and decreased life expectancy.

However, despite the existence of effective public mental health interventions provided by different sectors, only a minority of under 5s in the UK with a mental disorder receive any intervention with negligible provision of intervention to prevent mental disorder or promote mental wellbeing and resilience. Provision is far less in low- and middle-income countries. The implementation gap breaches the right to health and statutory legislation and results in population scale preventable suffering, broad impacts and associated economic costs. 

In 2023, the Royal College of Psychiatrists published ‘Infant and early childhood mental health: the case for action’ which made nine recommendations to sustainably address public mental health implementation failure for the under-fives through a population-scale coordinated response by policy makers and a range of sectors. More than 31 UK national organisations were consulted with in order to gain consensus on the report’s content and the nine recommendations. 

Interventions and supports in the early years of life starting from pregnancy are critical to break the cycle of adverse mental health outcomes and intergenerational disadvantage, but also offer significant return on investment.

This symposium will explore opportunities to scale up public mental health implementation in under-5s.

In this session you will explore:

  • Understand the prevalence of mental health conditions in under 5’s, associated risk and protective factors, impacts across the life course and associated economic costs
  • Understand the implementable, evidence-based public mental health interventions for under 5’s provided by different sectors including secondary mental health services
  • Understand the size of the public mental health implementation gap and associated reasons
  • Learn how to support improved practical coordinated global coverage of evidence-based, implementable public mental health interventions in order to sustainably address the implementation gap

Speakers

  • Chair:  Dr Lade Smith, Royal College of Psychiatrists, London
  • Co-chair: Dr Trudi Seneviratne, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London
  • The case for under-5s mental health and addressing the implementation challenge
    • Dr Jonathan Campion, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London
  • From evidence to action: addressing the implementation gap in early childhood mental health
    • Dr Marcia Brophy, UNICEF, New York, USA
  • Shifting the dial: early in life and not just early in illness
    • Professor Valsamma Eapen, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
  • Strengthening systems for children’s mental health: evidence and country experiences
    • Dr Chiara Servili, World Health Organisation, Geneva, Switzerland
Register for Congress 2026

Please email congress@rcpsych.ac.uk or call 020 8618 4120 with any enquiries.