1. Dr Erica Lam Clinical psychologist

2. Foundation goals Participation Awareness Accessible Education
To raise awareness of mental illnesses affecting children and young adults in the Cayman Islands, with a particular focus on anxiety and depression;
To provide hope and resources to help improve the lives of children and young adults affected by mental illness;
To address the stigma surrounding mental illness through providing and promoting educational resources to the Cayman community;
To advocate for public policies to ensure adequate access to tools and resources to those dealing with mental illness, including ensuring adequate health insurance coverage;
To seek to address discrimination against young people affected by mental illness;
To educate friends, family, teachers, classmates, carers and the wider population as to how to identify and successfully interact with young people with mental illness;
To provide resources to friends, family, teachers, classmates and carers to help them support those young people with mental illness.
Participation
Awareness
Accessible
Education

3. The facts
Mental health disorders are one of the leading causes of disability worldwide
The main causes of death of children between the age of 5 to 14 years are: Accidents (unintentional injuries), Cancer and Suicide
20% of adolescents may experience a mental health problem in any given year
50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 and 75% by age 24
10% of children and young people (aged 5-16 years) have a clinically diagnosable mental problem,, yet 70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age
In the US, 20% of children suffered from a diagnosable mental disorder
UK-based data- 70% of young people with mental health problems have not had appropriate intervention at a sufficiently early age
The most common mental health difficulties: Anxiety disorders are the most frequent conditions in children, followed by behavior disorders, mood disorders, and substance use disorders

4. Mental health matters
Sound mental health allows children and young people to develop the resilience to cope with whatever life throws at them and grow into well- rounded, healthy adults.
The evidence tells us that treating different, specific health issues separately will not tackle the overall wellbeing of this generation of children and young people.
Mental and physical health are intertwined, and at the heart of health and wellbeing are relationships with others.
We as a society want an integrated child, youth and family friendly approach that recognises their particular needs, makes them feel supported, emphasises the positives and helps them to cope.
Individuals with mental health difficulties are likely to be impacted negatively in regard to their physical health, and educational and work prospects. The chance of these individuals committing a crime is also increased.

5. data about our youth Global School-based Student Health Survey (2007)
14% of children between 13 and 15 years old felt lonely
6.6% admitted that they have no close friends
and 19% of this demographic have seriously considered attempting suicide in the past 12 months

6. data about our youth PAHO study (2013)
55.6% of the students captured had been depressed, in that they had felt so sad and hopeless that nothing seemed worthwhile
22.6% experienced suicidal ideation
Of those who had thought about suicide, % had made a plan about how they would attempt to kill themselves
of which 16% had tried to do so once and % had tried on more than one occasion.

7. Barrier of accessing services-
Less than half of adolescents surveyed expressed satisfaction with health care
Barrier of accessing services-
perceived lack of confidentiality
ease of getting to a health care facility
opening hours of facilities
knowledge about the services available to them
level of youth involvement in health care design and respect of health care providers for youth
significant shortfalls in the responsiveness of health care services with regard to the need of girls and young women especially
Young women and girls generally had poorer mental health, and this is at least partially associated with sexual abuse and violence against them, especially in the domestic space

8. Data about our Youth
The results indicated that only 0.8% of students in years and 1.2% in years 9-12 has reportedly been to counseling or had treatment regarding their substance misuse (CISDUS, )
WHO-AIMS (2014) suggested continuous data collection in the area of mental health
Children and young people’s mental health really matters, not only for the individual and their family, but for society as a whole.

9. What do/don’t we know about our youth…
Loneliness and low mood is real Suicidal ideation exists Accessing services is not easy Young women and girls need more specialist care
What difficulties are they faced with that lead them to feel hopeless and lonely?
What leads to suicide?
What other difficulties are they faced with?
What would improve their access to services?
What specialist care do girls need?
What about boys and young men? How do they cope?
How about now in 2018?

10. Model of implementation
To value and facilitate authentic participation of young people, parents, careers, and communities at all levels of the service
What do they want?
What is their struggle?
What help looks like to them?
Actions:
Surveys at school and community
Focus groups with professionals and service providers
General national reports base on participation
Participation
Awareness
Accessible
Education

11. What do we want to know?
1. Your understanding and knowledge about mental health and psychological well-being
2. Attitudes toward mental health and mental health disorder
3. Prevalence of mental health difficulties
4. Accessibility to services and attitudes toward services
5. Barriers in accessing services
6. Ways to improve services

12. The importance of meaningful data
Explore the community’s level of awareness in regard to mental health
Provide some evidence and real data to inform changes in policy and service provision
Inform the educational pathway and engagement level
Help service providers and community services to provide target and meaningful help
Enhancing the collaboration between service users and services.

13. What can you do to help Spread the word
Encourage young people to fill in the questionnaire
Share your views
Lets talk about mental health

14. Adolescent Health Survey in the Caribbean (2000).
Cayman Islands student drug use survey (2016).
Department of Health (2004). National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services. London: Department of Health.
Department of Health (2012). Report of the Children and Young People’s Health Outcomes Forum. London: Department of Health.
Department of Health (2013). Improving Children and Young People’s Health Outcomes: a system wide response. London: Department of Health.
Global school-based student health survey (2007)
Green H, McGinnity A, Meltzer H, Ford T, Goodman R (2005). Mental health of children and young people in Great Britain, A survey carried out by the Office for National Statistics on behalf of the Department of Health and the Scottish Executive. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
YoungMinds Mental Health Statistics. Available at: mental_health_statistics
HM Government (2011). No Health Without Mental Health: A cross-government mental health outcomes strategy for people of all ages. London: Department of Health.
Murphy M and Fonagy P (2012). Mental health problems in children and young people. In: Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer London: Department of Health.
National Advisory Council (2011). Making children’s mental health everyone’s responsibility. London: National Advisory Council.
WHO and Ministry of Health, Cayman Islands (2014). WHO-AIMS Report on Mental Health System in the Cayman Islands