YOUTH workers battling to cope with a rising tide of mental health concerns in young people have revealed they are helping children as young as 11 with anxiety problems.

Staff at the New Tavistock Youth Cafe have received badly-needed funding for an extra worker and have started recruiting for the post.

Manager Vicki Lloyd-Walsh said the money, which is coming from the NHS via the Primary Care Network, was welcome as workers were attempting to shorten a waiting list of young people in the Tavistock area who are coping with mental health problems.

The new resource has been awarded against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has bumped up the number of cases of mental health problems in the community.

A report to West Devon Borough councillors in February suggested that while some youngsters had come through the pandemic, others had been traumatised by the experience.

And Ms Lloyd-Walsh said: ’There is a great need (for the extra member of staff). What we are seeing most of are panic attacks from young people who don’t seem to cope very well in college.

’We’re talking about young people from Year Seven to the sixth form, with some of them being 11-year-olds who are being referred to us (from GPs in the Tavistock, Bere Alston and Yelverton area) because they are having anxieties about going from primary school into college.’

Ms Lloyd-Walsh, also a health and well-being coach, said staff acted as mentors for young people and gave the chance to talk over their problems in a face to face setting.

She said: ’It’s a youth work approach. We meet them for a walk and a talk. It’s somebody neutral they can talk to for some guidance. What is frightening is the lack of mental health support out there. You can’t change things and young people are very resilient, but I think we are treading water.’

The vast majority of (68 per cent) British teenagers fear the pandemic will make the future worse for people their age, according to research by the Mental Health Foundation and Swansea University. The study involved 2,375 British teenagers aged 13 to 19.

Half of those surveyed said they had not been able to stop or control their worrying, at times and 21 per cent said they had had uncontrollable worries on ’more than half the days’.

The report to borough councillors in February said: ’Some young people will emerge from the pandemic restrictions relatively easily. But for others this has been a very traumatic experience and there is evidence of depression and introversion during the third lockdown to a much greater extent than previously.

’This has its roots in lack of social interaction, worries about the future, in particular about educational opportunity and job prospects, and in some cases, domestic abuse, poverty and deprivation and safeguarding issues. It is quite clear that some young people will suffer from a form of post-traumatic stress disorder.’