A new report by the Centre for Young Lives and Agenda Alliance finds that girls and young women’s mental health has been deteriorating faster than boys and young men, with the number of young women not in education, employment or training at its highest level in a decade. Girls make up 73% of children under 15 detained under the Mental Health Act, and by their late teens and early twenties, young women are twice as likely as young men to experience a probable mental health disorder.

Despite rising demand, girls and young women describe poor experiences with mental health services, with many falling through the cracks of a fragmented patchwork of support that fails to respond to the complex and gendered drivers of their poor mental health.

The report sets out ten recommendations for philanthropic funders, calling for trauma-informed, gender and age specific support co-designed with girls and young women, multi-year funding for grassroots organisations, and advocacy to embed gender-responsive practice in government policies such as Young Futures Hubs and school-based mental health support teams