As you may already know, Mental Health is a topic of which is quite important to me and so the other week I wrote about the subject in my newspaper column. As I write for the local paper it isn't readily available to read and so I thought I would share it with you on my blog....
YoungMinds, the leading young people's mental health charity, has recently warned that the severe cuts to children's mental health services will end in crisis. The charity requested freedom of information from all NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups and have therefore revealed that 77% of these have frozen or cut their budgets between 2013-14 and 2014-15.
When I heard about these cuts to children's mental health services I was astonished that it was happening as it would seem that we need funding now more than ever; as 1 in 3 pupils in a classroom suffering with a mental health condition. It would seem that a rising number of young people are facing a battle with their mental health and for some reason, those who are able to make decisions regarding the funding are unable to recognise the importance of this. Many local support groups have closed down due to lack of money because of the cuts, leaving families and individuals stranded with no help whatsoever in their time of need. Just because an illness is not a physical or visible one, does not mean that it should not be a priority to the National Health Service.
Having suffered with anxiety myself and watching family members go through it also, I feel that something needs to be done. YoungMinds have urged NHS England to instruct Commissioning Groups to prioritise the resourcing of children and young people's mental health, especially with early intervention and prevention. These conditions can restrict a person so much, the cuts desperately need to be stopped.
Petition against cuts - https://www.change.org/petitions/stop-cuts-children-mental-health-services
My experience with Anxiety - http://heidijackson.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/anxiety-my-story-whats-yours.html
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