Laura Kyrke-Smith

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Wishart. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) for securing this debate. She is right to highlight the vital work of youth suicide prevention charities and the need for sustainable funding. I pay tribute to Hector’s House, a brilliant charity in my constituency that supports young people at risk of suicide in Hector’s memory. In Aylesbury, I run a programme for young people on politics, government and leadership called “Your Voice, Your Future”. The young people share their campaign ideas with me, and they often focus on mental health. One group made it their focus project—“Be You, Not Blue” was the name of their campaign. Their point was that, while awareness of mental health matters and is improving, awareness is not the same as understanding, and understanding does not yet translate into the support that young people need nationally or in their communities. Therefore, while it is so important that we get the support right for people in crisis, and the mental health strategy presents a real opportunity to do that, I reflect the point that young people make to me, which is that we should not be waiting until people are at crisis point to offer support. It is vital that support kicks in early, that mental health is woven through everything that schools do, that brilliant youth mental health charities such as Aylesbury Youth Action and Action4Youth in my constituency are known and accessible to people, and that mental health support is mainstreamed through the Government’s youth services. Today’s debate presents a real opportunity to get youth mental health support right more broadly. I know the Minister is working hard on that to make sure that we provide support early, as well as for those who get to that crisis point.