It was agreed by councillors of all parties that great progress has been made over the last decade in helping children and adolescents with mental health problems.

From hyperactivity to attention deficit disorder and depression, mental health covers a wide range of areas.  Of the 68,000 young people in Stockport borough, it’s estimated that 6,360 – nearly one in ten – have a mental health disorder.

A decade ago, help for these young people was woefully inadequate – no help was the norm.

As we saw at yesterday’s Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee,  the Primary Care Trust has worked in partnership with Stockport and other local authorities in the area and has made big improvements.

A tiered approach has been developed to enable children to get the most appropriate treatment.

Mental health is too often the poor relation.  Despite affecting a huge proportion of the population at one time or another, it never gets the focus, or the funding, of  higher profile health problems like cancer.

Councillors from all parties were united in our belief that mental health services are critically important and, whilst a great deal has been achieved, there’s clearly a long way still to go.

You can read the full report in the Children and Young People’s agenda available here.