In April 2025, the Shout Out for SEND Reps met with experts and leaders to speak about SEND young people’s experiences of mental health support.
Introduction
Shout Out for SEND Reps are young people who volunteer to represent all young people with SEND in Buckinghamshire. They share their thoughts to improve support for young people with SEND.
In April 2025, our meeting was focussed on one of our priorities: Accessing mental health services. We unpicked all the key issues in a SEND young person’s journey, and made suggestions on how they can be better supported! Meanwhile, our amazing artist Elly captured the conversation in this digital art piece!
Discussion
The art piece reflects the key points raised by the SOfS Reps, which are listed below in bullet points.
The green speech bubbles show what actions professionals have taken in response to these points.
The before and after
- “After support – There is a cliff edge, some are open about a 6-week cut off, others aren’t. After support, many say ‘we are just a phone call away’, you call again and they say you’ve already received your 6 weeks support, which
makes it difficult to trust professionals.” - “Ongoing support is needed.”
- “Changes and wins to CAMHS would make such a big difference for people like us, like if there was someone with the job to reach out and signpost you to activities, like SEND friendly football or nature group.”
Round pegs in square holes
- “The offer from CAMHS is often 6 weeks of cognitive behavioural therapy and/or medication with huge waiting lists.
I think the answer is to work differently by supporting more closely with voluntary and community organisations to offer more holistic support.” - “During support – When it works, it gives me support and hope, when it doesn’t it makes me feel trapped in a never-ending cycle.”
- “We need to think about the assessments – it’s usually based on a numerical scale, I think there needs to be more diverse ways to collect initial assessments.”
- “As a person with SEND it takes you 3+ weeks to get used to a person. You can’t pour your heart out straight away.”
Co-produce and collaborate
- “The support we get isn’t designed for us, and the systems aren’t either.”
- “It’s about adapting creatively and working more widely with partners to meet young people’s needs.”
Young people need to know what’s out there!
- “Knowing how to get help and where, especially earlier will help lots of young people.”
- “Finding support in the first place – Everyone around knew I needed help, but no one knew where to go or what to ask.”
- “People need to be more explicit and clear with where to go. A teacher telling me, putting a poster up, having information.”
- “At school teachers knew I wasn’t doing great. When it’s so clear I need help, but it’s not given, it’s so isolating and frustrating.”
We need more SEND-friendly activities
- “You need to do the things you love to help your mental health – but it’s tricky for people with SEND as they don’t have lots of activities suited to them.”
- “Exercise is something that can help.”
- “Nature, exercise and social interaction are things that can make a huge difference to our mental health.”
- “It would be good if there was someone with the job to reach out and signpost you to activities, like SEND friendly football or nature group. This would be so beneficial to people.”
Youth Voice Bucks has recruited a new staff member to facilitate the Young Inspectors scheme. This will help promote SEND-friendly activities and improve SEND inclusivity of local activity providers.
Address misconceptions and stigma
- “Masking plays a massive role, and ‘the kid with SEND being lazy’ is a misconception.”
- “Not recognising warning signs, and things like burnout – sometimes when someone neurotypical shows “challenging” behaviour, it’s followed up properly, but when a neurodivergent person does, it’s ‘just their SEND’.”
- “Burnout can come from many different things.”
- “We need training for staff! Young people often have to teach the professionals that are providing them care about their SEND.”
- Our teachers and other professionals don’t see us at home – we may mask / pretend that everything is okay at school, and then break down at home.
Shout Out for SEND has created a range of training resources for teachers and other professionals, shared via the SOfS Learning Hub.
Empower young people, parents and carers
- “Being able to get help without parental permission at any age – some young people want to ask for help, but their parents sometimes don’t understand what’s going on in their head.”
- “My mum had mental health difficulties, and it had an impact on me.”
Shout Out for SEND Lead Sam has formulated these key points into a Recommendations Report: SOfS Mental Health Services: Report
About the session
Attendees
The attendees at this session were:
- 9 Shout Out for SEND Reps
- Andy Fitton, Head of Buckinghamshire CAMHS, and member of the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (BSCP)*
- Caroline Hart, Designated Clinical Officer for SEND, from Buckinghamshire Council and Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board
- Elly Bazigos, Artist
- Sam, Angel and Krissie from the Youth Voice Bucks team
* The Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership is a group of leaders from the Council, health organisations, CAMHS, the Police and more.
The government has made a guide for children and young people that helps to explain how professionals work together to help keep children and young people safe.
Action
This session addressed Action 3 on the SOfS Rep’s 2024 – 2025 Young People’s Plan: Explore how young people’s access to mental health support can be better.
Activities
During the meeting, the SOfS Reps explored the mental health theme through a focus group discussion and through collage art / inspiration boards.
For more information
Learn more about Shout Out for SEND
If you would like more information about this session or the Shout Out for SEND, please email ShoutOutforSEND@Buckinghamshire.gov.uk.