The government announced in February 2024 that early support hubs will receive a share of almost £8 million to help young people get support with their mental health at an earlier stage. The funding will enable them to grow their services and employ new staff such as youth workers or counsellors.
This is the first time national support has been offered and, although less than half of the providers received funding this time, this is a really positive step forward after years of campaigning. The number of hubs to receive funding is expected to grow if they can evidence the effectiveness of their service.
So, how can early support hubs collect and report on data to evidence activities and outcomes for children and young people?
What are early support hubs?
Early support hubs offer mental health support and advice to young people aged 11-25. Early help hubs are run by a range of local services including voluntary sector organisations, local NHS trusts and local authorities using the YIACS model. They offer open access and flexible support for young people often on a ‘drop in’ basis.
YIACS are Youth Information, Advice and Counselling Services, providing transformational support for young people all over the UK.
It is important that early support hubs can evidence the reach and effectiveness of the mental health support that they offer.
How can iaptus help your service secure funding through data collection?
iaptus is a digital care record that already supports services across the country offering early mental health support, including Isle of Wight Youth Trust, Young Devon, Young Person’s Advisory Service (YPAS), Off The Record Bristol and The What? Centre.
One of our early help hub customers, YPAS, has been effectively using iaptus to easily record data to evidence how their interventions are working and to prove their impact to NHS commissioners and funders.
The ability to generate quality data in order to demonstrate the impact and effectiveness of its interventions has enabled YPAS to bid for large contracts. These significantly improved access to early intervention and provision via YIACS across Liverpool for people aged 5 to 25.
YPAS subscribes to the Youth Information, Advice and Counselling Services model (YIACS) and is part of the Liverpool CAMHS partnership that offers integrated support delivered by providers from the statutory and voluntary sectors.
Since implementing iaptus into their service, the system has also improved staff efficiency and reduced the number of young people missing appointments thanks to a text reminder function.
Could your early support service benefit from a system like iaptus?
Book a demo today.
