Wellbeing While Waiting: Effectiveness and implementation of youth social prescribing for young people awaiting CAMHS support
6 affiliations
- 1Social Biobehavioural Research Group, Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- 2Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
- 3Evidence Based Practice Unit, Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families and University College London, London, United Kingdom
- 4Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- 5Division of Psychiatry, University College London, Maple House, Gower Street, London, United Kingdom
- 6Department of Psychology, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom
Abstract
Prolonged waiting times for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) leave many young people without structured support while awaiting specialist treatment. Social prescribing has been proposed as a community-based adjunct within CAMHS pathways; however, evidence regarding its safety and clinical impact remains limited. Wellbeing While Waiting was a multi-site non-randomised controlled trial embedded within a hybrid type II implementation–effectiveness evaluation conducted across 11 CAMHS in England. The protocol was prospectively published prior to recruitment (BMC Psychiatry; https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-04758-0). Between May 2023 and March 2025, 558 young people aged 11–18 years referred to CAMHS were enrolled (225 usual care; 333 social prescribing). Primary outcomes were anxiety and depression symptoms, total emotional and behavioural difficulties, and perceived stress. Secondary outcomes included resilience and wellbeing. No intervention-related adverse events were observed. On average, participants had 5 sessions with a Link Worker. Compared with usual care, no significant differences were observed in anxiety or depression symptoms. However, participants receiving social prescribing demonstrated significant improvements in total emotional and behavioural difficulties over six months, driven by reductions in conduct difficulties, hyperactivity and peer problems. Significant improvements for those receiving social prescribing were also found for prosocial behaviour and resilience. Within routine CAMHS pathways, no intervention-related adverse events were observed for social prescribing, and social prescribing was associated with improvements in behavioural and resilience-related outcomes, although not in anxiety or depressive symptoms. Findings suggest social prescribing may offer a valuable adjunct during delayed access to specialist treatment, with effects distinct from symptom-focused clinical therapies.
Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-026-03074-8.
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BibTeX
@article{hayes2026wellbeing,
title = {{Wellbeing While Waiting: Effectiveness and implementation of youth social prescribing for young people awaiting CAMHS support}},
author = {Daniel Hayes and Joely Wright and Alexandra Burton and Feifei Bu and Lou Sticpewich and Het Stuttard and Joanna Page and Alexandra Bradbury and Emeline Han and Jessica Deighton and Marc S. Tibber and Shivangi Talwar and Daisy Fancourt},
journal = {European Child \& Adolescent Psychiatry},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1007/s00787-026-03074-8},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-026-03074-8},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Wellbeing While Waiting: Effectiveness and implementation of youth social prescribing for young people awaiting CAMHS support
AU - Daniel Hayes
AU - Joely Wright
AU - Alexandra Burton
AU - Feifei Bu
AU - Lou Sticpewich
AU - Het Stuttard
AU - Joanna Page
AU - Alexandra Bradbury
AU - Emeline Han
AU - Jessica Deighton
AU - Marc S. Tibber
AU - Shivangi Talwar
AU - Daisy Fancourt
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/09
JO - European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
DO - 10.1007/s00787-026-03074-8
UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-026-03074-8
AB - Prolonged waiting times for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) leave many young people without structured support while awaiting specialist treatment. Social prescribing has been proposed as a community-based adjunct within CAMHS pathways; however, evidence regarding its safety and clinical impact remains limited. Wellbeing While Waiting was a multi-site non-randomised controlled trial embedded within a hybrid type II implementation–effectiveness evaluation conducted across 11 CAMHS in England. The protocol was prospectively published prior to recruitment (BMC Psychiatry; https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-04758-0). Between May 2023 and March 2025, 558 young people aged 11–18 years referred to CAMHS were enrolled (225 usual care; 333 social prescribing). Primary outcomes were anxiety and depression symptoms, total emotional and behavioural difficulties, and perceived stress. Secondary outcomes included resilience and wellbeing. No intervention-related adverse events were observed. On average, participants had 5 sessions with a Link Worker. Compared with usual care, no significant differences were observed in anxiety or depression symptoms. However, participants receiving social prescribing demonstrated significant improvements in total emotional and behavioural difficulties over six months, driven by reductions in conduct difficulties, hyperactivity and peer problems. Significant improvements for those receiving social prescribing were also found for prosocial behaviour and resilience. Within routine CAMHS pathways, no intervention-related adverse events were observed for social prescribing, and social prescribing was associated with improvements in behavioural and resilience-related outcomes, although not in anxiety or depressive symptoms. Findings suggest social prescribing may offer a valuable adjunct during delayed access to specialist treatment, with effects distinct from symptom-focused clinical therapies. Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-026-03074-8.
SN - 1018-8827
SN - 1435-165X
ER -