A PROJECT bringing together family support services in Newport has been held up as an example of how young people with mental health problems can be better supported.

The Integrated Family Support Service is run jointly by Newport City Council and Barnardo's Cymru and links teams supporting families.

Last year the Institute of Public Care called it "one of the most impressive overall models" it had seen and has been held up as a model of good practice in a new report by think-tank ResPublica.

The report, which calls on the UK government to follow Wales' example and require councils to provide counselling services for young people aged between 11 and 18, as well as those in the final year of primary school, said: "We welcome the ambition shown in areas such as Newport."

It points to research showing 88 per cent of 11-18 year olds who used in-school counselling in Wales in the 2015-2016 school year did not require further referral to specialist services.

The report also calls on the government to require social media firms such as Facebook and Twitter to do more to support young people's mental health.

ResPublica director Phillip Blond said: "We must face up to the fact that our provision of support for our most vulnerable young people, and future fellow citizens, is in crisis."

He added: "Charities and civil society more broadly have a crucial role to play in supporting the state to address this crisis, and this report offers a vision of how their resources and knowledge can best be harnessed by government at a national and local level, in the interests of securing better outcomes for vulnerable children and young people."

Barnardo’s chief executive Javed Khan welcomed the report and, saying it set out "a clear-sighted picture of how the help we provide as a country to our most vulnerable children and young people will need to change in the coming years".

"I call on the institutions of national and local government to seize this opportunity and accompany us as we undertake the task of converting its ambitions into reality," he said.

Other recommendations in the report include requiring local authorities to introduce a model similar to Newport's Integrated Family Support Service, creating a dedicated fund for young people to invest in their own development worth £1,000 per child, or £70 million a year, and ring-fencing funding for mental health support for children.