Early years mental health
The first five years of life are crucial to a child’s development, the prevention of future mental health conditions and the promotion of mental wellbeing and resilience.
Early intervention for the 5% of 2-4 years olds with a mental health condition is also important.
With half of mental health conditions established by age 14, there is overwhelming evidence for interventions to address mental health conditions in young children, prevent such conditions from arising, and promote mental wellbeing and resilience.
Unfortunately, most young children and their parents do not receive such interventions. This implementation failure negatively impacts on the mental health and wellbeing of babies, infants and young children as they get older, which can result in long term impacts persisting into adulthood.
Infant and early childhood mental health: the case for action (College Report)
In this landmark College report published in October 2023, the RCPsych called on government to prioritise the mental health and wellbeing of young children.
The report makes nine recommendations to sustainably address the public mental health implementation gap for under 5s and their families through a population-scale coordinated response by policy makers and a range of sectors.
It provides a blueprint on how to deliver a future where fewer young people develop mental health conditions.
More than 31 national organisations were consulted in the report’s development in order to gain consensus on the report’s content and the nine recommendations.
View the College Report (PDF).
Early years mental health briefing for stakeholders
In December 2024,
- in light of forthcoming strategies/legislation and
- in order to draw the new government’s attention to the 2023 College Report
the RCPsych issued a briefing to relevant parliamentarians.
View the briefing (PDF).