Mental health workers are being brought into Plymouth’s schools because so many children are suffering psychological problems.

Up to six specialist primary mental health workers are being recruited and trained to operate in nurseries, primary and secondary schools, and with GPs. More could be hired later.

They will target help towards children, from babies to teenagers, who are exhibiting worrying signs of having mental health difficulties.

The appointments are being made as the Government demands action on the huge increase in the number of children and adolescents suffering from depression, stress, anxiety, eating disorders, a tendency to self harm, obsessive/compulsive disorders and drug and alcohol abuse. Suicide rates in young men have risen ‘significantly’.

Ray Waters, head of service for Plymouth Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, said from 10 to 20 per cent of the city’s children would suffer a mental health problem. In Plymouth the situation is so bad there is a six-month wait for children to get help from psychiatric nurses and other professionals. Those with severe mental illnesses, needing to see one of Plymouth’s ‘five-and-a- half’ consultant psychiatrists, face a 15-week wait. Mr Waters said: “Waiting lists are quite high - there’s a large number of children and young people who need help.”

Three of the primary mental health workers have been appointed and interviews are ongoing to fill another spot. Two more are expected to be taken on before next year. Mr Waters said: “We would like to see even more.”

The initiative is run by Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust and the University of Plymouth, which will train the workers who must have a professional background such as teaching, nursing, social work, youth work or psychology. Suitably experienced students could work while training to identify children with symptoms earlier and get them help.

The workers will also visit schools, GPs’ surgeries and places such as Surestart nurseries to help train staff to deal with youngsters’ problems and prevent less-severely affected youngsters getting worse. Severe cases, which need drug treatments, will be referred to psychiatrists.

Jon Perry, senior lecturer in mental health with the university’s faculty of health and social work, has developed the course and said: “GPs and schools have to cope with a large number of young people with mental health problems which are not the most severe but bad enough.

“The older children get, the more mental health difficulties they get. There’s a huge jump in puberty and an increase through adolescence.”

He said boys with mental health problems outnumbered girls until late adolescence when girls overtook them, displaying signs of depression, eating disorders, tendency to self harm and other conditions. He said: “Young children’s mental health problems manifests itself in their behaviour. Boys are hard to manage. Their behaviour tends to get recognised as a criminal justice problem; instead of being diagnosed they get arrested.”

Mr Perry said more children were displaying signs of mental ill health possibly because ‘life has become more pressured’ for them. He said schools were pushing children to succeed, there was ‘disintegration of the family’, and drug and alcohol abuse could cause mental health problems. Mr Perry said the danger of not dealing with problems in childhood was that it could lead to ‘a more intractable problem later in life’.