Young people’s mental health and social prescribing: New European Parliament report
Author: Nick Harrop
Young people’s mental health has become one of Europe’s most pressing public health challenges. A new European Parliament report, Mental Health of Young People in a Digital Era, estimates that youth mental ill-health could cost the EU €1.68 trillion between 2024 and 2033 if current trends continue. Already, around one in five young people are living with a diagnosable mental disorder (anxiety, depression and psychological distress) and almost half report unmet mental health needs.
Alongside its analysis of the challenges facing young people, the report also points towards potential solutions. Among six proposed areas for an EU-level “policy option” is social prescribing and community-based pathways for vulnerable youth.
This recognition positions social prescribing as a distinct policy option for consideration at EU level and reflects a growing understanding that mental health is shaped not only by healthcare services, but also by social connection, meaningful activity, supportive relationships and a sense of belonging. As social prescribing gains momentum across Europe, the report points to growing policy interest in the role that communities can play in supporting young people’s wellbeing. For SP-EU, which is investigating how social prescribing can be adapted, evaluated and embedded across different European health systems, this is an important development.
Who Is the Missing Middle?
The report refers to the ‘missing middle’ – young people experiencing difficulties above self-help but below specialist thresholds; often underserved as their support needs sit somewhere between families or schools and specialist mental health services.
They may be experiencing loneliness, anxiety, low mood, social isolation, school avoidance, loss of confidence or the effects of difficult life circumstances. They may not require specialist clinical intervention, yet they often need more support than can be provided through everyday services alone. Many face long waiting times, while others never engage with traditional mental health services at all.
The report argues that this gap is one of the major weaknesses in current systems and highlights the need for earlier, more accessible and youth-friendly forms of support. This question of access is also central to SP-EU; not only whether social prescribing can improve health and wellbeing, but whether it can help people who are underserved by existing systems find and engage with the support they need.
Why Social Prescribing?
The report takes a broad view of mental health, recognising that wellbeing is influenced by a range of social, economic and environmental factors. Poverty, discrimination, family instability, trauma, displacement, social exclusion and digital experiences can all shape how young people experience the world and their mental health within it.
These are not challenges that can always be addressed through clinical services alone. Social prescribing offers an approach that connects people to community-based sources of support, such as arts and cultural activities, sport, volunteering, nature-based programmes, peer support groups and other local opportunities. By helping individuals build relationships, confidence and meaningful connections, social prescribing seeks to address some of the wider factors that contribute to wellbeing.
In other words, social prescribing recognises that sometimes what a young person needs most is not simply a treatment pathway, but a pathway back into community, purpose and belonging.
The report notes the potential value of community-based approaches for groups who may be at greater risk of poor mental health outcomes, including young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEETs), migrants, refugees, LGBTQIA+ young people and those with care experience. This is particularly significant for SP-EU, as we explore the effectiveness of social prescribing for people in vulnerable situations and tailor services to their needs.
What Does the Evidence Tell Us?
The report’s recommendations are grounded in a substantial evidence review, drawing on academic research, policy literature, programme evaluations and case studies from across Europe.
SP-EU – Europe’s largest social prescribing study – is building the evidence for social prescribing across Europe through 10 quantitative and five qualitative studies, including a randomised controlled trial with 1,776 participants across eight countries. The project focuses on LGBTIQ+ people, refugees and first-generation immigrants, and older people living alone, working with communities and local stakeholders to co-create and adapt social prescribing approaches to their needs and contexts. Alongside testing effectiveness, SP-EU is also exploring what helps or hinders social prescribing from being successfully implemented across different European health and care systems.
While the authors acknowledge that the evidence base for social prescribing is still developing compared with some established clinical interventions, they conclude that community-based approaches show particular promise in addressing inequalities and the wider social determinants of mental health.
The report also highlights Barnardo’s LINK service in Cumbria, England as an example of social prescribing in practice, citing positive mental health outcomes for participants and evidence of a favourable social return on investment. This illustrates how preventative approaches can impact both the individual and wider systems, as shown in a wide range of case studies and evidence summaries. A further recent systematic literature review of economic studies on nature-based social prescribing found favourable economic returns, long term savings and improvements to quality of life.
Importantly, the report highlights that social prescribing is about much more than signposting people to activities. Its effectiveness lies in personalised support, trusted relationships and meaningful connections to community resources. Successful social prescribing focuses on understanding what matters to the individual and helping them engage with opportunities that build confidence, resilience and social connection.
The report’s findings also come at an important moment for the development of social prescribing across Europe. As different countries test and implement new models, there is growing interest in understanding how social prescribing can be adapted across diverse health systems, cultures and communities. Building that evidence base will be essential if social prescribing is to become a sustainable component of preventative and person-centred care.
Source: European Parliamentary Research Service (2026), Mental Health of Young People in a Digital Era: Cost of Non-Europe Report. [europarl.europa.eu]
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