27th June 2024 News

How can the next government improve young people's mental health?

Lived experience • Mental health services • Young people •

Young people with lived experience of mental health issues, together with academic partners, have collated a summary of research-informed asks of the next government 2024 ahead of the General Election.

At McPin we think mental health research should always involve the people it directly affects – which means research must include young people, and national youth policies should be influenced by them too. 

With that in mind we’ve worked with young people with lived experience of mental health issues to put together 10 asks ahead of the 2024 General Election. These ten points highlight what the research suggests needs to be prioritised to improve young people’s mental health. 

Read the 10 asks here

Our asks of the next government 

  1. Improve training for all primary, emergency, and mental health care providers 
  2. Commit to providing personalised care for young people at risk of self-harm and suicide 
  3. Refocus on the core components of good quality service design 
  4. Produce timely and specific interventions for young people at risk of eating disorders and self-harm  
  5. Improve the lifestyle interventions for young people experiencing psychosis 
  6. Take notice of the importance of sleep for mental health 
  7. Proceed with caution using digital tools to treat young people with depression 
  8. Raise awareness around anxiety, including social anxiety 
  9. Develop a school curriculum that centres and celebrates diversity and inclusion 
  10. Increase education campaigns to end mental health stigma 

These ten points only begin to scratch the surface of what needs to be done to support children and young people’s mental health, but we believe they are a good place to start. 

You can find out more about each ask, and the projects that inspired them, in our full document. 

We need the government to listen and act upon these findings to transform services for the better, which is what young people deserve.”

Georgia Naughton, McPin Young Person Peer Researcher

Calling for evidence-based mental health priorities 

The ten asks have come from research programmes and studies we’ve been involved in over the last five years.  

They highlight specific evidence-based changes that, if implemented, would go some way to addressing current inadequacies in the youth mental health system across the UK. 

Georgia Naughton, a McPin Young Person Peer Researcher, commented on them, saying: 

“People like myself being involved in a range of research projects focusing on young people’s mental health, and having these opportunities to use our lived experience in this positive way, have provided useful findings on what is needed within young people’s mental health care.”  

“Now we need the government to listen and act upon these findings to transform services for the better, which is what young people deserve.”   

Improving public understanding of mental health issues is crucial to end stigma so that all young people feel comfortable asking for help and support when they need it.”

Professor Helen L. Fisher, King’s College London

Meaningful findings through strong research partnerships  

Projects that work in partnership with young people using their lived experience to help shape and deliver studies are better able to set priorities and produce findings that are directly relevant to young people’s needs.  

None of these projects would have been possible without strong collaboration with our research partners. We believe that centring lived experience and working collectively delivers meaningful research that improves lives.  

Gemma Lewis, psychiatric epidemiologist in the UCL Division of Psychiatry and our partner on the Universal Schools project, said: 

“LGBTQ+ young people are at increased risk of mental health problems compared with their peers. We need to develop and evaluate whole-school interventions to improve the school climate and reduce this mental health inequality.” 

Professor Helen L. Fisher of King’s College London was our partner on the National Gallery Audio Tour project. 

 She said: “Improving public understanding of mental health issues is crucial to end stigma so that all young people feel comfortable asking for help and support when they need it.” 

Make your voice heard 

Join us in calling for the next government to prioritise and take meaningful steps for young people’s mental health.  

A good place to start is to read the 10 asks of government 2024 in full.  

You can also help us elevate the voices of young people with lived experience by sharing the asks with your networks. Don’t forget to have your say and tag us in social media posts via X, Instagram and LinkedIn. 


The McPin Young People’s Network is made up of young people aged 13-28 interested in being involved in mental health research. Involvement is when people with lived experience of mental health issues are involved with designing and/or carrying out that research, alongside (or as part of) the research team. Find out more about it on our website. 

The studies used to create the asks were delivered with university partners including: Aston University; City, University of London; Keele University; King’s College London; University of Birmingham; University of Cambridge; University College London; University of Manchester; and University of Oxford.