Up to one in five teenagers experience mental health problems, and some young people are at greater risk than others. Those from poorer families and certain ethnic groups are more affected. Furthermore, some research suggests that access to mental health services can be worse for young people from a minority ethnic background, but more research is needed to understand if this true, the role of poverty, and the possible reasons. This project to understand whether mental health services are more accessible for some teenagers than others. 

More widely, the project aims to guide strategies for improving access and targeting of mental health-related services by identifying which groups of young people with mental health needs access services in crisis, or do not access services at all. In addition, the project aims to identify which factors enable earlier access to mental health-related services. 

This project is led by Dr Dan Lewer and Dr Ruth Blackburn and is funded by the Children and Families Policy Research Unit.