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IMPROVING THEMENTAL HEALTHOF CHILDREN ANDYOUNG PEOPLE
MISSION:To ensure that every child and young person can developand maintain good mental and emotional healthWe aim to improve the mental and emotional healthof the 300m children and young people in thedeveloped world. Over the next year, we will buildbrand-new, scalable ventures to tackle this mission.Would you like to be one of the 70 Founders whobuilds those ventures? Or be one of the 100 expertFellows or 20 partner organisations who helps thoseFounders achieve their ambitions?Every child and young person should be able toactively develop and maintain good mental andemotional health at each stage of their first 22 years.This is a challenge for individuals, and for those whocan help them thrive, including their families, friendsand schools.Unfortunately, many children and young peoplestruggle to develop and/or maintain the mental andemotional health they need to cope with life and togrow into healthy, well-rounded adults. Often thisdistress will be short-term or mild. But for many itdevelops into clinical-level and long-standingproblems. In England, for example, 16% of 5-16 yearolds have a mental health condition, a figure thatincreases sharply to 27% for young women agedZinc Manifesto 2021 Zinc. All rights reserved.17-22. Half of children and young people with acommon mental health condition will self-harm orattempt suicide. And the situation appears to begetting worse: the NHS reports that the proportion of5-16 year old boys and girls with a mental healthcondition grew by almost 50% in the last 3 years.We know that, for children and young people, goodmental and emotional health is underpinned by:feeling loved, trusted, understood, valuedand safe;having supportive family, friends, school andcommunity;being optimistic and hopeful, whilst havingresilience and the ability to solve problems;enjoying good physical health, diet, exercise,play and sleep;accepting who you are and recognising whatyou are good at;having fair access to life chances and not beingdiscriminated against.01
The quality of mental and emotional health inchildhood can have lifelong implications. 50% of alladult mental health conditions are established by theage of 14 and 75% by the age of 18. A third of adultconditions relate to an adverse childhood experience.When any of these things are missing, they can haveboth short-term and long-term impacts on mentaland emotional health. We also know that the mentaland emotional health of children and young peoplecan be badly affected by events. These might bechanging schools, family stress or breakdown,bereavement, physical illness, being bullied orabused, parents in distress, relocating, examinations,going to university, starting work, etc. For too manychildren and young people, their health is underminedby the environment in which they grow up, affectedby poverty, unsafe communities and a lackof opportunities.Zinc Manifesto 2021 Zinc. All rights reserved.There has been a sea-change in attitudes to mentaland emotional health in recent years. Stigmacampaigns are addressing damaging attitudes. It isnow more commonly acknowledged that 100% ofpeople will face mental health challenges at differentstages of their life.This has created more awareness and demand formental health support. At the same time, the qualityof society’s mental and emotional health has notimproved and appears to be getting worse. Theresponse to the increase in need, awareness anddemand has been totally inadequate. COVID-19 hasbrought the issue to the fore and increased theurgency for innovation and impact at scale.02
OPPORTUNITY AREAS FOR INNOVATIONOur approach to innovation to improve the mental and emotional health of childrenand young people is:Aspirational: We will help people to strive forexcellence in their mental and emotional health,and we want everyone facing challenges,however severe, to have the support they needto recover and thrive.Comprehensive: We will tackle all aspects ofmental and emotional health, ranging fromeveryday coping to the most serious mentalillnesses, for all children and young people atand across each stage of their first 22 years.Holistic: We will improve the drivers of goodmental and emotional health for children andyoung people, including their physical healthand fitness, the support of their family andfriends, their digital life, their experience ofschool and college and their opportunities tosucceed in life.Evidence-based: We will be led by evidence,powered by the behavioural sciences andcommitted to creating new evidence throughrigorous experimentation.Empowering: We will empower all children andyoung people, and those who support them, tounderstand, manage and improve their ownmental and emotional health and that of theirloved ones, avoiding over-medicalisation andfully involving children and young people intesting and creating new solutions.Zinc Manifesto 2021 Zinc. All rights reserved.Tech-positive: We will embrace and improve thedigital life of children and young people, and useand create technology to unlock newopportunities and solutions across all of our 9opportunity areas.03
NINE OPPORTUNITY AREASStrong and Supportive FamiliesAccess to Effective TherapiesThriving at School and CollegePositive RecreationPositive Beliefs, Emotions & SkillsRelationships and SexTargeted Interventions for high-riskbehaviours & conditionsHealthy BehavioursFairer Life ChancesWe believe that these are some of the most important and fertile areas for new products and services. Each ofthem holds the potential to develop and maintain good mental and emotional health for millions of children andyoung people across the world. We are inviting potential Founders, Fellows and Partners to choose which of theseareas best match their passions, skills, experience and/or imagination:Strong andSupportive FamiliesCreating new products and services to tackle and/orsupport people through:parenting challengesfamily strains, breakdown and divorcefinancial stress and distressaccess to quality child carephysical & mental health problems in the familyneglect, abuse and domestic violencemoving homebereavementactivating the extended familyZinc Manifesto 2021 Zinc. All rights reserved.Access toEffective TherapiesImproving the supply of and access to high-quality,affordable and timely evidence-based therapies foremotional distress & behavioural problems, including:Applied Behaviour AnalysisBehaviour therapyCognitive behavioural therapyCognitive therapyFamily therapyDialectical behaviour therapyInterpersonal psychotherapyMotivational InterviewingOrganisational Skills Training04
Thriving at Schooland CollegeSupporting the student’s journey through their schoolyears from ages 3 to 22 so that they thrive at eachstage, creating products and services for:self-management and peer supportmanaging classrooms and the wholeschool/collegehome/school relationships and collaborationbehaviour managementcurriculum and learning opportunities whichactively strengthen positive mental andemotional healthschool and college transitionsaddressing negative behaviours like bullying,Positive Beliefs, Emotionsand SkillsCreating new products and services which improve:self-esteem, self-identity and self-efficacymental and emotional literacy and regulationoptimism, ambition and a sense of control overone’s own liferesilience and coping skillsability to seek and benefit from help, whenneededcommitment to and capacity to support friends,family and communitycapacity and opportunities to overcomediscrimination and unfairnessdiscrimination and social isolationindependent study outside the classroomthe pre- and post-school day experienceRelationshipsand Sextargeted, timely and effective interventions forchildren and young people who are strugglingwith poor mental healthPositiveRecreationSupporting children and young people to activelyparticipate in positive recreational activities, includingnew products and services for:socialisingplay and creative activitiesperforming artssport and exerciseCreating age-appropriate products and serviceswhich help children and young people grow up to beable to:build and maintain close andnourishing friendshipsestablish positive and supportivesocial networksunderstand and create healthy intimate andromantic relationshipslearn about and achieve good sexual healthand satisfactionunderstand and be confident in their own sexualorientation, preferences and identitygamingaccessing naturevolunteering, service and civic actiondigital communitiespart-time workZinc Manifesto 2021 Zinc. All rights reserved.05
Targeted Interventions forHigh-Risk Behaviours & ConditionsCreating preventative and restorative products andservices for common high-risk issues including.self-harm and attempts at suicidechallenging behaviourseating disordersviolence and crimesubstance misusethe consequences of traumaFairer LifeChancesCreating new products and services which addressthe unfair life chances faced by up to half of childrenand young people, including:early years support (0-4 years) fordisadvantaged children and for their parentssupport for stressed and distressed familiesinspiration, mentoring & access to social capitalnew entrants where there is poor access togreat nurseries, schools, apprenticeships,colleges and jobsHealthyBehavioursequal access to educational opportunitiesoutside the school daykeeping young people safe from violence, gangsCreating new products and services which improve:sleepexercisesocal connectivitynutritionaccess to naturevolunteering and supporting othersphysical healthand crimenew education, work and training opportunitiesfor those aged 14-18 who don’t thrive in thetraditional academic routelife, careers and financial guidanceovercoming discrimation based on social class,gender, ethnicity, disability and/orsexual orientationsubstance (mis)useZinc Manifesto 2021 Zinc. All rights reserved.06
Do you want to transform one of these opportunity areas?Apply for our latest Venture Builder Programme.There are huge markets for new products andservices that meet the needs of children and youngpeople. The developed world spends more than 2.5trillion each year on education and 600 billion onchildren’s and young people’s healthcare. Globally,teenagers directly spend 1 trillion per year. It isestimated that children and teenagers influence atleast as much again of their parents’ spending. Forexample, the global gaming market totals 160 billioneach year.The need to improve children’s and young people’smental and emotional health was high-profile, urgentand unsolved before the COVID crisis. But thelockdown year has hit children and young peoplehard, denying them key pillars of good mental andemotional health. They have lost education, socialconnectivity, recreation, freedom and, in many cases,hope and financial security.This is the moment when the world’s most passionateand determined innovators need to build newventures to deliver on this mission and ensure thatevery child can develop and maintain good mentaland emotional health. The time is now. Apply for theZinc Venture Builder programme today.Would you like to join 69 other Founders and build abrand-new, scalable venture which tackles thismission? Or would you like to support thoseFounders with your skills, knowledge and networksas one of our expert Fellows or one of our partnerorganisations?To find out more about the programmeand the support we offer, visitTo apply to be a Founder, Fellow orPartner Organisation, visitwww.zinc.vc/vb4www.zinc.vc/get-involvedTo contact us at any time,please email venturebuilder@zinc.vc with questions.Zinc Manifesto 2021 Zinc. All rights reserved.
conditions relate to an adverse childhood experience. When any of these things are missing, they can have both short-term and long-term impacts on mental and emotional health. We also know that the mental and emotional health of children and young people can be badly affected by events. These might be changing schools, family stress or breakdown,
