Until last week I assumed that everyone involved with children and young people was concerned about the affect the pandemic and successive lockdowns and isolation periods has had on young people’s mental health. But then I heard of someone who thinks it is all exaggerated. It made me wonder how many other adults think that the mental health crisis affecting young people is an exaggeration.

In the last three years there has been a 50% increase in the number of young people with a probable mental health issue. One in six children aged five to 16 are likely to have a mental health problem, so if you can imagine a classroom, that is five children in a class of 30.

Statistics can be quite dry, so if you are still not convinced here is my rendition of this issue in poetic form: