Troubling figures have emerged following the publication of a report regarding the mental health of young people in Lincolnshire.
A survey carried out on 1600 young people by Healthwatch Lincolnshire has revealed that a high number of the county's youth have experienced bullying and struggled with mental health issues.
20 percent of young people aged between 16 and 25 have admitted to self-harming with the highest figures emerging from the 16 to 18 year bracket.
Almost half of those surveyed also admitted to being bullied in the past.
Despite these worrying statistics, recent government budget cuts have seen a decline in mental heath funds with more than half of British councils cutting funds allocated to child and adolescent mental health services.
However Lincolnshire council have denied making any cuts to this sector, with councillor Patricia Bradwell saying: "Good adolescent mental health support is important to this council and we are maintaining our base funding for Child and Mental Health in 2015/16, despite the cut in funding to local authorities”
These figures reinforce recent concerns put forward by 2020health and Nuffield Health who have proposed introducing a specific support to secondary school students.