Youth Mental Health in Vulnerable Communities: Barriers, Facilitators, and Place-Based Solutions-A Situational Analysis from England’s Southeast Coast

AI Summary

Mental health services are strained by limited funding, workforce shortages, siloed referrals and high access thresholds, leaving many 16-25-year-olds excluded and distrustful.
Place-based community models such as Single Points of Access and task sharing with voluntary organisations offer promising routes to earlier, accessible support.
Prioritising community partnerships and asset mobilisation can enable prevention, early identification and ongoing support to prevent escalation of young people’s mental health problems.

J Prev (2022). 2026 May 20. doi: 10.1007/s10935-026-00918-6. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Youth mental health services are struggling to meet demand, highlighting the need for changes aligned with young people’s needs. The CATALYST project (Co-designing and testing an Asset-based TAsk-sharing modeL for Youth mental health Services in deprived communiTies) uses place-based approaches to inform improvements to mental health support for 16-25-year-olds. In addition to improving access to care, there is an urgent need to prevent escalation of mental health issues through earlier, community-based interventions. This paper presents a situational analysis of Brighton and Hove, UK, a coastal area with high levels of socioeconomic inequality, to explore why young people are not being reached by existing services, and what could improve access. We conducted a desk-based review of 21 policy, strategy, and research documents, and a series of interviews and focus groups. Participants (N = 34) included young people, community members, and professional stakeholders. Data were analysed using a framework analysis guided by the research questions. We identified eight barriers and five facilitators to accessing support across system-, service-, and individual-levels. Participants described a system under strain, characterised by a lack of funding, workforce capacity, siloed referrals, and high access thresholds. Young people described low levels of trust in the system and experiences of exclusion and isolation. However, a strong voluntary sector, and community-based models like Single Points of Access (SPOAs) were seen as promising facilitators for accessible mental health support. The findings align with other areas with high levels of deprivation, but Brighton and Hove’s vibrant voluntary sector offers unique opportunities. Mobilising these assets through increased community partnership and use of task-sharing could enhance access to timely and appropriate mental health support. These approaches have implications for prevention practice by facilitating earlier identification of emerging mental health difficulties and providing ongoing, community-based support to prevent escalation.

PMID:42159989 | DOI:10.1007/s10935-026-00918-6

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