ARU Final Report

28 Care leavers’ experiences of support during the Covid-19 pandemic wellbeing. Depression, lowmood, and anxiety were among these impacts with some young people citing loneliness as having a negative impact on their overall mental health and wellbeing. The literature shows that young people with existing mental health concerns felt further isolated during the pandemic due to the supports they relied on before lockdown being removed, such as spending time with friends and family and going to school or college, which was also reflected in our findings: “I think for me it had a negative impact on my mental health. I struggled quite badly with mental health before, then it was like I finally got on track and then lockdown hit so I went back to how I was before so I’m just trying to steady myself a bit.” (FG: Female, 23) However, some young people felt that their experiences had not changed during the pandemic as they were already experiencing mental health challenges beforehand, which continued during Covid-19: “It was still the same as it was during and before the pandemic… It didn’t really affect me… I was already affected with my mental health before so it wasn’t really a difference for me at least. The fact that I wasn’t able to see my friends and family and that obviously did affect it but apart from that there wasn’t really a difference.” (FG: Male, 18) 4.2.3 Support with mental health and wellbeing In the questionnaire, 44.7% of respondents received support for their mental health and wellbeing during the pandemic from various people including counsellors/psychologists, community mental health worker, a women’s refuge, local support group, family, friends, and neighbours (however it is important to note that not all care leavers in this study requiredmental health andwellbeing support). Leaving Care Services and being able to call their personal advisor/social worker was also reported by many as helpful. Some also mentioned being sent online support by their personal advisor or using different apps to help with their mental health. As in the focus groups, some questionnaire respondents also reported pre-existing mental health challenges; in these circumstances across both the questionnaire and focus group, continued support from mental health professionals was considered valuable, though one respondent suggested that therapy over the phone is not as helpful as face-to-face support: “I did access – from before – treatment groups that started at the end of April so it came at a good time. So that was a good thing. But that was because I was already accessing the support.” (FG: Female, 23) “Having accessed mental health support before the pandemic, it was useful to have ongoing access to this throughout.” (Q: Female, 23) At this crucial time, access to mental health services has been increasingly difficult with long waiting lists for those without immediate risk of severe harm (SCLC, 2020). Street Doctors et al. (2020) suggest that services need to bemindful going forward about the impact of reduced or suspended services during periods of lockdown and the impact this will have on the future wellbeing of the young people they support, as well as the increase in referrals to mental health services made during this time. Indeed, the Essex Involvement Team (2020) reported difficulties in accessingmental health support during lockdown and their report suggests that awareness needs to be raised among professionals about the level of mental health support available during the changes in tiers and potential future lockdowns. The SCLC (2020) suggest that care experienced young people should be prioritised in support provision for mental health and wellbeing. In contrast, the care leavers in our focus groups expressed disappointment that often the only option available from mental health professionals