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In a 2025 report by the NHS, it found that one in five people aged between eight and 25 are living with a “probable mental disorder”, which has highlighted concerns around young people’s mental health in the UK and the support systems they have access to.
To explore how this is being addressed in Cornwall, I spoke with Aisha Lord (Vice President of Falmouth University), who has a strong focus on student wellbeing and Cathie Kessel (People and Prosperity Manager at Cornwall Council). Both have noticed a rise in the number of people seeking mental health support and queried whether current funding is enough to meet the current demand that mental health organisations are experiencing.
Aisha Lord said the increase in need of support is clear within the university community, “It’s clear students are struggling, our advice team is not busy,” she explained. She went on to explain several contributing factors affecting students’ mental health, including the cost of living crisis and the spiking epidemic that passed through Falmouth a couple of years ago, which left many students feeling anxious about socialising.
Picture of Aisha Lord, Vice President of Falmouth University.
Despite the existing support systems, Aisha believes more funding is essential. “It can never be enough, in the sense that we’re always going to need more help,” she said that the government could do more to support different groups of people, particularly during what she explained as “very trying times,” suggesting that more funding could help to make support services more efficient and accessible.
Cathie Kessel also acknowledged the stress placed on mental health services across Cornwall, suggesting that many organisations are operating at or beyond capacity due to ever-rising demand. “There’s always going to be an issue with levels of funding,” she emphasised that services are struggling to keep up with the number of people seeking help.
Kessel went on to explain that these organisations receive funding from a range of sources, including government funding, donations, and notional lottery grants. However, she stressed that the complexity of these types of funding does not always correlate with sufficient resources.
She also explained that many sectors within the government need increased funding, specifically adult social care (which provides professional support to help older people and those with disabilities or long-term illnesses to live safely and independently), which accounts for a large portion of public spending because of its essential role.
However, she stated that the government has released a new scheme called ‘Connect to Work’, which will start in April 2026. This scheme is to provide individuals with one-to-one support with an adviser who can help address mental health-related barriers to employment. She explained that this new programme is to support people in their next steps, such as work, education or training, by offering tailored guidance to those who could struggle to access different opportunities independently.
Overall, the experiences shared by both interviewees reflect a wider national picture in which the demand for mental health support is continuing to rise, while things like funding are continuing to be stretched and strained. In Cornwall, like the rest of the UK, these organisations are being asked to do more with their limited capacity as more and more young people are being faced with growing pressures linked to finance, safety and uncertainty about the future. While old and new services such as ‘Connect to Work’ show a reinforced commitment to supporting those facing mental health issues, questions remain about whether this will last in the long term. As the government prepares to roll out their new schemes, both interviewees stressed the importance of sustained and effective funding to ensure that mental health support is accessible to those who need it most.
If you or a loved one is struggling with mental health issues contact your local GP or 111 for further assistance.