30/04/2025
Rethinking Mental Health Support for Youth in Norway
Across Norway and many Western countries, one troubling trend keeps repeating itself: more and more young people are dropping out of school and falling through the cracks of the welfare system. Mental health struggles among youth are on the rise, but what if we’ve been asking the wrong questions—and offering the wrong kinds of help?
A recent Norwegian study took a close look at this issue through the eyes of those working on the frontlines—an outreach team supporting youth aged 13–23 facing mental health and social challenges. Their insights tell a powerful story about what quality care really means—and what must change in our schools and services.
Mental Health or a Social Struggle?
Too often, young people are handed a psychiatric diagnosis when what they really need is social support. Diagnoses might grant access to services, but they can also mask the underlying causes—bullying, poverty, inflexible education systems, and unrealistic expectations.
Instead of asking "What’s wrong with this young person?" we should be asking "What’s going wrong around them?"
A System That Pushes Kids Out
The outreach workers describe schools as "ejecting forces"—places that can leave struggling youth behind rather than lifting them up. Standardized tests, rigid academic demands, and lack of flexibility contribute to poor self-esteem and feelings of failure. Instead of adapting to the child, the system expects the child to adapt—or get out.
It’s no surprise that school refusal, dropout rates, and mental distress are closely linked.
Rethinking What ‘Good Care’ Looks Like
So what does real support look like? According to the outreach team: flexibility, relationships, and dialogue.
Their work happens outside the office—visiting homes, attending school meetings, texting encouragement, helping with job applications. They call themselves "the red thread" in a young person’s life, stitching together the many fragmented services and fractured experiences.
Importantly, they don’t impose solutions. They listen. They co-create goals with young people—whether that’s finding work, reconnecting with family, or simply taking the next small step forward.
The Diagnosis Dilemma
There’s a paradox: while a diagnosis can unlock support, it also reinforces a medical model that frames personal struggles as illnesses. Parents often feel they have no choice but to seek a diagnosis so their child can access help or benefits—even when the root of the problem lies elsewhere.
This points to a deeper issue in the welfare system: help comes with conditions, and those conditions often demand a medical label.
Relationships Over Routines
Interestingly, outreach workers highlighted how their own lived experiences—of being parents, of facing hardship—made them better at their jobs. They valued honesty, vulnerability, and connection over clinical detachment. But this approach also came with emotional weight and blurred boundaries.
Still, they believe that relationships—not rigid treatment protocols—are the cornerstone of meaningful recovery.
