BY JACK WELCH

AFTER a while, the mention of anything relating to mental health and young people can feel repetitive.

To my mind, though, as long as failures in the system still occur, they will simply need to be exposed time and again.

In a fresh report into the state of the situation for young people in the country by CentreForum, the South West region was shown to have had no beds available for mental health cases for 50 days since April 2015.

It is a grave indictment of how the system fails those who need help most.

Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group, which is leading the significant restructuring of services in the county, needs the views of parents, service users and young people.

It is vital that as many voices as possible influence the priorities of care.

Units like Pebble Lodge in Bournemouth, which offers inpatient treatment for young people, are thankfully of a good standard on the whole but, as an investigation conducted by the Young Inspectors project last year found, the quality of provision on offer can be inconsistent.

Dorset Healthcare is leading a review into some of these shortfalls.

On a lighter note, reading has been found to help build important resilience in young people as they grow up, which is a top priority.

The Reading Well for Young People campaign suggests that Dr Seuss may be just one way to improve poor wellbeing.

Reading, after all, can provide answers to many difficult questions.