We Cannot Keep Treating Crisis Without Preventing It: Why Family Justice Reform Must Be Part of the Mental Health Solution
A message from the frontline of mental health care
As someone who works within an NHS mental health crisis team I see first-hand what happens when people reach breaking point.
Mental health crisis services save lives.
They provide vital support to people during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.
However, we must also recognise a wider reality: crisis services are often responding to the consequences of problems that have developed over many years.
Hospitals and crisis teams are designed to support acute medical and psychiatric needs. They are not designed to resolve complex family conflict, financial pressures, legal disputes, unmet additional needs or the long-term impact of childhood experiences. And yet these factors can have a profound impact on mental health.
A Welcome Investment, But It Must Be Matched by Prevention
The Government has announced a £343 million investment to expand mental health services across England, including 100 new walk-in mental health centres and dedicated mental health emergency departments to provide faster access to specialist support.
This is a positive step. Earlier access to mental health care has the potential to improve outcomes and reduce pressure on busy emergency departments.
However, investment in mental health services alone will not prevent future generations from reaching crisis.
As someone working within an NHS mental health crisis team, I know that many of the people we support are not experiencing problems that began yesterday. Their mental health has often been shaped by years of unresolved childhood trauma, family conflict, financial insecurity, adverse childhood experiences, unmet additional needs and prolonged involvement with multiple public services.
While new mental health facilities are welcome, investment in buildings must also be matched by investment in the skilled workforce needed to deliver safe, effective and timely care.
More importantly, we must ask ourselves an even bigger question:How do we stop people reaching crisis in the first place?
The answer lies not only within the NHS but across Government.Health, education, social care, family justice and child maintenance all influence children’s lives.
Decisions made during childhood can have lifelong consequences for emotional wellbeing, relationships and mental health.If this investment represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redesign mental health services, then it should also include a commitment to preventing avoidable trauma and supporting families earlier.
That is why I believe the Government should pilot a Mandatory Three-Tier Family Justice Triage Assessment Framework.
By identifying risk earlier, recognising additional needs, understanding the impact of financial insecurity and family conflict, and ensuring decisions are based on evidence, we have an opportunity to improve children’s outcomes and reduce the number of adults who later require crisis mental health services.
Mental health services save lives. Prevention changes lives.
The children who become the adults in crisis
Children do not simply leave difficult experiences behind when they become adults.
Family breakdown, prolonged parental conflict, financial insecurity, unmet special educational needs, neurodiversity, and uncertainty around relationships can affect a child’s emotional wellbeing and development.
For some, the impact can continue into adulthood, influencing:-
Mental health
Relationships
Education
Employment
Confidence and emotional resilience
If we only intervene when someone reaches crisis point, we have already missed opportunities to prevent harm.
Children need protection and safe relationships
Every child deserves to grow up safe, supported and loved.
Where it is safe and appropriate, children benefit from having positive relationships with both parents. However, decisions about restricting a child’s relationship with a parent must be based on careful, evidence-based assessment.
Where a safe relationship is unnecessarily disrupted, children can experience emotional harm, including feelings of loss, confusion, rejection and anxiety.
At the same time, genuine safeguarding concerns must always be taken seriously. Children must be protected from abuse, neglect and unsafe situations.
The answer is not assumptions or stereotypes. The answer is a system that carefully examines evidence, recognises that victims and perpetrators can be any gender, and places the child’s welfare at the centre of every decision.
Why family justice reform is a mental health issue
Family justice decisions can shape a child’s entire future.
A system that identifies risks earlier, supports families sooner and makes decisions based on evidence could reduce unnecessary harm and prevent some families reaching crisis.
This is why I recommend the introduction of a;
Mandatory Three-Tier Family Justice Triage Assessment Framework
Tier 1 – Standard Evidence-Based Assessment
Every family entering the system should receive a consistent assessment considering:-
The child’s welfare and needs
Family circumstances
Existing support networks
Any safeguarding concerns
Tier 2 – Enhanced Family, Financial and Needs Assessment
Where complexity exists, a deeper assessment should consider:-
Child maintenance concerns and financial hardship
Economic abuse or financial control
Disputed child arrangements
Parental conflict
Neurodiversity, disability and additional needs
The impact of family circumstances on the child’s emotional wellbeing
Tier 3 – Multi-Agency Safeguarding Review
Where significant concerns exist, the right professionals should work together:-
NHS services
Education
Social care
Family justice professionals
Safeguarding agencies
The purpose is not to delay decisions — it is to ensure the right decisions are made earlier, using the right evidence.
Further Recommendations
1. Introduce a Child Impact Assessment
Major decisions affecting children should consider:-
Emotional wellbeing
Developmental needs
Relationships with parents and wider family
Safeguarding risks
Long-term impact
2. Create Early Intervention Pathways
Families should receive support before problems become entrenched.
This should include:-
Early family support
Appropriate mediation
Parenting support
Neurodiversity-informed assessments
Mental health support
Financial advice
3. Recognise Financial Security as Part of Child Welfare
Child maintenance is not simply an administrative issue.
Financial insecurity can affect:-
Housing
Food security
Opportunities
Parental stress
A child’s emotional wellbeing
A child’s needs should not depend on unresolved financial disputes.
4. Improve Recognition of Economic Abuse and Financial Control
Professionals should be trained to recognise when money is being used as a method of control, while ensuring all financial disputes are assessed fairly and based on evidence.
5. Strengthen Professional Training
Those working across family justice, safeguarding, health and education should receive training in:-
Domestic abuse and coercive control
Economic abuse
Neurodiversity
Additional needs
Trauma-informed practice
The impact of parental conflict on children
6. Improve Information Sharing
Children and families often move between separate systems.
Better communication between NHS services, education, social care, family courts and child maintenance services could allow earlier support and reduce escalation.
7. Measure Long-Term Outcomes
Success should not only be measured by court processes.
We should measure:-
Children’s wellbeing
Educational outcomes
Mental health impacts
Family stability
Whether safe relationships are supported where appropriate
8. Pilot the Framework
The Mandatory Three-Tier Family Justice Triage Assessment Framework should be piloted, independently evaluated and improved using evidence.
Prevention Must Become the Priority
Investment in mental health services is essential.
But we cannot build a healthier society by only treating people when they reach crisis.
We must look at what happened before the crisis.
Children today are the adults seeking support tomorrow.
By joining up mental health, family justice, education, social care and financial support, we can build a system that protects children, supports families and prevents avoidable harm.
Crisis care saves lives. Prevention changes futures.
If we truly want to reduce demand on NHS mental health services, we must invest not only in treating mental illness but also in preventing avoidable childhood trauma.
A joined-up Government approach to health, education, social care, child maintenance and family justice could transform lives for generations to come.
Mental health services are essential, but they cannot prevent every crisis alone.
If we truly want to reduce demand on the NHS and improve children’s lives, we must invest just as much in preventing avoidable childhood trauma as we do in treating its consequences.
Prevention is not just good policy — it is an investment in the next generation.
Deanna Newell | Founder - DN Family Law | Campaign Lead - Reform That Works
Advocacy for truth-tellers, survivors, and the children who deserve better
