The need for new approaches to mental health

Why new approaches to mental health are essential

Mental health conditions like depression and anxiety are now among the leading causes of young people. While services continue to response to urgent needs, rates of mental illness are rising faster in children and young people than in adults. Most treatment models focus on the symptoms rather than root causes, and prevention is often overlooked.

To make meaningful progress, we need to understand the biological, psychosocial and environmental contributor to mental health conditions, an act earlier. Evidence from across science and medicine points to new ways to identifying risk, improving care, and reducing long-term impact.

Mental health in numbers

1 in 0

children and young people in the UK in 2023 had a probable mental health disorder

1 in 0

people experience a mental health problem in any given year

0 %

of people with a mental health problem develop it before age 24

develop it before the age of 14

greater risk of depression in adulthood following depression in adolescence

0 %

of cases are effectively treated by current approaches for depression

0 billion

working days are lost each year to mental ill health

people globally suffer from depression

Sources: Goodyer/Wilkinson DOI:10.111/jcpp.12940; Morris et al DOI:10.1258/jrsm.2011.110180; Patalay/Gage DOI:10.1093/ije/dyz006. Wellcome Trust, NHS Digital, Archives of General Psychiatry, The Lancet, World Health Organization, The British Journal of Psychiatry

What the science is telling us

A growing body of research suggests that mental health problems are not just psychological. They often stem from complex interactions between biological, environmental and behavioural factors over time.

Emerging science highlights the role of:

Body systems, in particular the nervous, endocrine and immune systems, as well as the gut microbiome
Genetics and epigenetics, including how genes are switched on or off in response to external factors
Underlying health conditions, such as chronic inflammation, food allergies, long-term infections (e.g. Lyme disease) and the effects of antibiotic use on gut health
Environmental factors, such as bullying, exposure to pollution, socio-economic disadvantage and situations that lead to chronic stress
Lifestyle and behaviours, including sleep, physical activity, nutrition, substance use and daily routines

Research also suggests that these influences act across the life course. Key stages including fetal development, infancy, childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, appear to shape how biological systems develop and how resilient (or vulnerable) an individual may be to mental health conditions later in life.

This deeper understanding opens new opportunities for earlier detection, better-targeted interventions and more effective mental health prevention strategies – especially when research insights are combined across disciplines.

Even as our understanding of mental health improves, this knowledge isn’t reaching young people quick enough. Several key barriers continue to delay meaningful change.

Knowledge isn't joined up

Knew discoveries are emerging across neuroscience, immunology, gut health, psychology and more. But without better integration, it's difficult to connect these insights and apply them to prevention, early intervention and system-wide improvements.

A gap between research and real-world solutions

Much of what we learn through research never becomes something a practitioner, policymaker, young person or parent can act on. Turning evidence into practical tools and services requires collaboration across sectors - and that doesn't happen by default.

Slow and complex implementation

Even when promising innovations are developed, their implementation can be delayed by the number of people and organisations involved in implementation; lack of knowledge, capacity or motivation for change; limited infrastructure and complexity of implementation within current systems.
On average, it still takes 17 years* for research to become routine practice.

How we're helping accelerate change

At YPMH, we work to overcome these barriers by connecting science with innovation and real-world implementation.

Our approach is grounded in systems thinking and draws on proven methods from fields like technology development, engineering and public health. We focus on:

Bringing research together

We help connect insights across disciplines to better understand how conditions like depression and anxiety develop—and where the greatest opportunities for prevention and early intervention lie.

Drive real-world implementation

We focus on how innovations can be adopted and scaled, not just tested. Involving key stakeholders from different groups, particularly those with lived experience, our methods help:

Define the users’ needs and how they are to be addressed
Design, Develop, Deploy the implementation
Refine the implementation to ensure that the operating model needs users’ needs fully
Ensure that the implementation is reviewed and updated to reflect real-world changes.

Turning evidence into innovation

We support the development of practical tools, services and strategies that reflect the latest science and are co-developed with those who use them. We use modern methods, such as innovation management, to engage the multiple stakeholders who need to be involved, to generate effective solutions that reflect the real-world needs of these groups.

Championing prevention and early intervention

By promoting approaches that target root causes and risk factors, we aim to reduce the long-term impact of mental health conditions and ease the pressure on crisis services like the NHS.
Together, these efforts aim to improve outcomes for young people – from childhood early adolescence through to young early adulthood – and build a future where mental health care starts earlier, works better, and reaches more people.

Donate Today

By donating today, you can help create a better future for young people. If you’d like to discuss your donation, email us at contact@ypmh.org