Children and young people's mental health in England has been described as in "crisis" (Department for Health and Department for Education, 2017), with rising demand for NHS and statutory services exceeding capacity, potentially leading to unmet mental health needs and worsening conditions (O’Shea & McHayle, 2021).The charitable sector often works in partnership with public services such as the NHS, social care and early help teams to support the health and wellbeing of CYP and families. This thesis sought to understand what helps and what hinders support for CYP and families.

Part A of this portfolio presents a scoping review that synthesised available evidence on the effectiveness of direct voluntary and charitable sector (VCS) mental health support for CYP in England. Findings suggest that VCS interventions were regularly designed to reach the most marginalised and disadvantaged CYP and to extend support into emerging adulthood. The reviewed literature indicated that charity aims and activities are often person-centred in approach and thus frequently cover aspects of support that could span the domains of NHS and social care services. This may be of interest to Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). However without more robust research and reporting, a limited understanding of the VCS contributions will remain and potential benefits for CYP will not be maximised.

Part B presents a reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022). Semi-structured interviews with a broad range of early help practitioners identified facilitators, barriers and patterns related to roles, networks, processes, and procedures in a place-based early help system in the South of England. Findings highlight how early help teams embedded within communities enable more responsive support and facilitate the development of trusting relationships, crucial for supporting vulnerable children and families. Findings also highlight that overstretched public services create a significant barrier in this place. Further Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) analysis suggested that while practitioners' roles, networks and processes work together to support children and families and prevent issues from escalating, more systematic evaluation and measurement processes are needed to assess the overall effectiveness of the entire early help system across roles and services.