Children and Young People’s Mental Health Policy Group

The Children and Young People's Mental Health Policy Group (CHYMP) draws on cross-disciplinary, evidence-based research at the University of York to help policymakers address the biggest current challenges in children and young people's mental health — from stretched CAMHS services and under-resourced schools to pressures facing families and the voluntary sector.

“Our mission is to improve the lives and care of children and young people who are experiencing, or are at risk of, mental health difficulties. This includes advancing interventions that are effective and offer value for money, alongside policies that address social and environmental adversities affecting children and young people’s mental health."

Co-Chairs of CHYMP, Profs Lina Gega and Bernadka Dubicka

Young People’s Mental Health - the Global and National Picture

Young people are the age group at greatest risk of developing depression, anxiety and other mental health disorders. This period of life is also a particularly crucial one in terms of personal and psychological development. Those who experience good mental health during this period are much more likely to experience both economically and socially productive and personally rewarding lives going forward.

Mental health in figures:

Globally one in seven 10-19-year-olds experience a mental disorder, accounting for 15% of the burden of disease in this age group.

In the UK it is approximately 20% of 8-to-16-year-olds and 23% of 17-to-19-year-olds [2021 Global Burden of Disease Study]

The UK is ranked 70th out of 73 countries for average life satisfaction of 15-year-olds [OECD PISA 2022 Survey]

Who are we?

The Children and Young People's Mental Health Policy Group (CHYMP) is sponsored and funded by The York Policy Engine (TYPE). The Group was established and is chaired by Professor Lina Gega, Professor of Mental Health at Hull York Medical School (HYMS), in her capacity as Inaugural Director for the Institute of Mental Health at York. Professor Bernadka Dubicka, Chair of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Hull York Medical School (HYMS), has joined the group as co-chair, adding a wealth of expertise and substantial national and international networks across policy and practice.

Our research group brings together University of York researchers with diverse expertise across 9 academic departments: Hull York Medical School (HYMS), Health Sciences, Psychology, Centre for Health Economics, Economics and Related Studies, Education, Computer Science, School of Art and Creative Technologies and School for Business and Society.

Professor Lina Gega, Professor of Mental Health at Hull York Medical School (HYMS)

Mental Health Research about Children and Young People at the University of York

The University conducts nationally and internationally significant research in young people’s mental health across faculties and departments. This takes a number of forms including:

exploring environmental and genetic influences on mental health, including through cohort studies and analysing large datasets
understanding better the needs of young people with special educational needs and disabilities
developing and testing new mental health interventions, including using digital technologies
improving equality of access to treatment
researching the economics of mental health and the cost effectiveness of existing policies and practice
evaluating mental health and allied legislation and processes

Our ambition through CHYMP is to help promote the findings from this research to policy makers so that it can shape more effective mental health interventions and care pathways that offer better value for money and are more accessible to young people across different geographies and settings. The group also seeks to influence policy making in adjacent areas - e.g. education, regulation of technology - by highlighting evidence about what marries best with advancing young people's mental health and wellbeing.

Our work to date

In pursuit of this ambition, our two initial priorities have been:

To build a virtual community of researchers from across all faculties and departments who are passionate about improving children and young people’s mental health by translating research into policy and practice
To review all the published research at the University of York in the area of young people’s mental health since 2018 and distill from this the most policy relevant findings into a series of accessible briefings.

Our key partner in this endeavour to date has been national policy think-tank, the Centre for Mental Health - a major contributor to policy debates and emerging legislation in the UK and beyond through direct dialogue with government, influential policy briefings and roundtables.

Working with us, the Centre has written a policy briefing based on this review of our research with more to follow. These reports explore a series of thematic areas, framing their findings in the context of the scale and nature of the challenges to which they relate. These reports offer a number of concrete recommendations for key policy-making organisations, including UK central and local government and the NHS, based on the research evidence presented. The first of these reports is:

‘Strengths-based support for neurodivergent children and young people’ which explores how adapted, sensory-informed and play-based approaches can improve outcomes for neurodivergent children and young people.

Thanks to further generous funding from TYPE, we are continuing our successful partnership with the Centre for Mental Health and co-organising and hosting a series of high-profile and far-reaching events to further promote the findings and recommendations in our briefings.

To accompany this outreach, there will be a short series of illustrated single-page fact sheets and guides for key individual and organisational stakeholders, including Members of Parliament, Local Councillors, Schools and Colleges, NHS Trusts, and Integrated Care Boards. These will be shared directly as well as disseminated more widely via social media.

We aim going forwards to bring together our York community of CHYMP researchers and external friends and partners, to identify and co-design ideas for new research and evaluation projects that build on the findings in these briefings and address gaps in knowledge linked to current and emerging policy agendas.

Collaboration with the UK Parliamentary Policy Insights Unit

We have been forging links with the UK Parliamentary Policy Insights Unit (formerly the Open Innovation Team), a cross-government unit that works with experts to generate analysis and ideas for policy. In May 2025, a Policy Insights Unit (PIU) Senior Policy Advisor gave a well-received policy masterclass, tailored to the interests of the CHYMP group and followed up with a summary document and relevant materials. Through the PIU, CHYMP is also hosting a Policy Fellow, a civil servant at the Department for Education, who is exploring the key considerations for mitigating the negative effects of pandemic response decisions on disproportionately impacted children and young people.