Young people on the brink as funding stalls
Hastings charity Eggtooth has supported over 900 young people experiencing mental health challenges in the last two years. Now it says it can’t take on any new clients because the funding has run out.
This is a time of rising demand and increasing levels of distress among young people asrecord numbers are being diagnosed with serious mental illness, schizophrenia or depression. Despite this, and with hospital admissions for self-harm running at all-time highs, charities providing early community-based support as well as supporting those in crisis are being forced to turn people away due to similar lack of funding.
Many of these young people are struggling with anxiety, school avoidance and low self-esteem. A significant number are neurodivergent or waiting for assessment, often falling below clinical thresholds despite clear and growing need.
“The situation in Hastings is deeply concerning,” says Eggtooth co-director Jade Parker. “We are working with young people when [their] anxiety is building, when school becomes difficult and when they are starting to struggle day to day. Without early support, those needs escalate into crisis. Continuing to act only at crisis point is failing our community. In a town with such high levels of serious mental illness, early intervention is critical to prevention.”
Hastings has nearly 50% higher rates of serious mental illness and schizophrenia than the rest of the UK, and 70% higher rates of hospital admissions for self-harm, according to last month’s Sussex Community Foundation report Improving Health. Eastbourne, Rother and Brighton face similar challenges, with Brighton having one of the highest suicide rates in the country.
“For the past four years, Eggtooth has received funding from the Integrated Care Board to help cope with the crisis young people are facing,” says Jade. “Now the ICB has confirmed that funding has run out. We are turning young people away at the point they need help the most.
“This issue extends beyond our organisation,” she adds. “Right now, vulnerable young people are being left without the support they need, caught in a gap where decisions are delayed and no clear plan is in place.”
The mental health crisis in coastal communities was highlighted as far back as 2021 when the UK’s Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, tasked leading health organisations to come up with specific plans to address the major health challenges they face. But despite the Sussex Health & Wellbeing Board stating only last year that reducing health inequalities and prevention and early intervention support for mental health and wellbeing were top priorities, funding is now being cut.
Concern over a lack of consistent funding was highlighted only last year in Parliament by Hastings & Rye MP Helena Dollimore. Quoting a local doctor, she said: “The withdrawal of Eggtooth from children’s services would leave a profound gap in support for vulnerable young people.” Following her intervention, funding for the charity was provided for an additional year but, without further commitment, young people are now left facing a stark future.
Young people supported by the charity are also urgently calling for the funding to be renewed. Holly, a 16-year-old referred by her GP for talking therapy, says: “If somewhere like Eggtooth didn’t exist, a lot of young people wouldn’t get any help at all. You can be seen quickly, and you get to do things that actually make you feel comfortable – creative things, not just sitting and talking.”
Ally, a 14 year-old receiving support from Eggtooth for anxiety, self-harm and being excluded from school for non-attendance, says: “It’s important to have different options for support because not everyone can open up in the same way.”
And Alice, 16, says: “I was waiting nearly three years for CAMHS (Children and Adult Mental Health Services). When I finally got offered support it was just an online group, which I didn’t want to do… I’m now finally seeing CAMHS on my own, but I don’t think I would have been able to do that if I hadn’t had Eggtooth first. I don’t know what would have happened if I didn’t have Eggtooth… nothing good though.”
It’s not just campaigners who are raising the alarm. Specialists within CAMHS itself are backing the cause. “If services like Eggtooth were no longer available the impact would be devastating,” says one mental health worker. “The emotional wellbeing of vulnerable children would be damaged, families would struggle to cope, and children are more likely to present in crisis.”
Eggtooth’s early intervention support is crucial, says co-director Nansi Hitchman. “Whilst we welcome the NHS’s commitment to improving access to mental health support, the reality is that a trusted early intervention service pathway is being removed, with no direct replacement. In areas like Hastings, where need is already high, this risks pushing more young people into crisis. Future transformation plans may sound reassuring, but they don’t change the fact that support is being lost right now – and early intervention only works if it actually exists.”
To find out more: eggtooth.org.uk
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