It campaigns for better services, such as more emergency provision for very ill children and targeted support for young offenders and people in care who are more likely than average to develop a mental illness. YoungMinds, whose council includes 21 professional organisations, believes early intervention in mental health problems is the key to improving the country's health problems.
Young people can become depressed for many reasons.
Helplines YoungMinds runs a parents' information service, a free national helpline manned by experts. It says that the calls it is receiving are becoming increasingly complex and severe and require referrals. Most concern children with depression. Parents' main concern is waiting lists for services, lack of appropriate services for adolescents and feelings of being isolated and having no-one to turn to for help. YoungMinds, which publishes leaflets and magazines for children and parents and runs training courses for professionals, is just one of a range of organisations offering help to young people with mental illness.