The government has said that mental health is a top clinical priority which is currently going through a radical programme of modernisation.

But the Depression Alliance has asked ePolitix Forum members for views on the government's record on promoting good mental health in schools.

The Alliance also asked whether the draft Mental Health Bill would be introduced and whether it might pay "more than just lip service to the treatment of young people with mental illness".

Forum Response: Depression Alliance

A spokesman for Depression Alliance told ePolitix.com: "One would imagine that the government would direct some of its energy in tackling the soaring suicide rate towards education and the National Curriculum.

"However, promotion of good mental health in schools remains voluntary and young people continue to become depressed, unaware of their options and too scared to seek help. It is left to organisations like Depression Alliance to provide the training and support needed to tackle depression and suicide in young people. Unfortunately, with so little funding made available, there is a real risk that all those thousands of emails, calls and letters will eventually go unanswered.

"Part of the solution to this and many other mental health concerns lies in the introduction of properly constructed mental health legislation taking on board concerns raised over the last draft Mental Health Bill. The balance of the solution would come from a change in government attitude.

"Even the student reading Jane Eyre for GCSE knows that the solution to Mr Rochester's problem did not lie in locking his mad wife in the attic. Why then does government appear to think that it does?"

Forum Response: Barnardo's

Pam Hibbert, spokeswoman for Barnardo's, told ePolitix.com: "The draft Mental Health Bill, which appears to be on hold for the time being, seems to pay scant regard to children and young people, and offers little extra support to anyone experiencing mental ill health.

"Its significance rests mainly in the power it invests in statutory agents to determine the future of other individuals. Should it proceed in its present form, it is certain that many people will be deterred from seeking the help they need for fear of losing control of their future.

"Certainly over 50 per cent of young people in the 15-24 age group (the group most prone to depression) stated that they would be deterred from seeking the help of their GP if the Bill became statute.

"How ironic, then, that at a time when the curriculum finds space for citizenship and personal health and safety education, the drive towards the creation of responsible, self-determining citizens does not appear to include mental and emotional well-being.

"And this, at a time when one in four 15 year olds are now known to suffer from some form of anxiety disorder and over a quarter of young people, some as young as 10, have thought of suicide.

"Distressingly, 20 per cent of deaths in young people are through suicide and many of them relate to depression. Depression is more likely in young people than at any other stage of the life-cycle.

"Schools could be an important platform for the promotion of positive messages about mental health, providing one part of an important social network that supports young people through the bad times. Helping them to work through their problems and feelings, and to understand and accept that sometimes it's normal to feel sad, angry or unhappy. And, given the extent to which adult problems are rooted in childhood experiences, it seems counter-productive to treat mental needs in the young with disregard.

"Teachers play an important role in helping depressed young people, second only to mothers - whilst teacher and peer support is more important than mum or dad if the problem, as it so often is, is low self esteem. The government should be looking at low key, easily accessed interventions such as peer support groups, social skills training for shy or isolated teenager and positive peer interventions. Ministers should also consider teacher mentorship and counsellors within schools.

"It is possible that the Connexions initiative [providing advice for 13 to 19-year-olds] may go some way towards addressing these issues. But expressing confidences, talking about feelings, making yourself vulnerable is about building a relationship of trust with a person of your choice. Connexions mentors aren't chosen in this way - and are frankly unlikely to hit the spot for young people struggling to make sense of life."