How the UK is sleepwalking into a full-blown mental health crisis - Nick Garrett

Time and time again I listen to people’s stories about their poor mental health and how it dragged them further into insecurity, debt, unemployment and the almost inevitable degradation of losing all sense of self identity. A dehumanising spiral into a place of nowhere. One of the most painful parts of all the stories from people like Jan and what is tragically common amongst them is the way the state agencies and services routinely let people like Jan down, right at the point when they need help.

I ask Jan to take her phone out. “How many numbers do you have in there of agencies trying to help you?” I ask. An eye-roll tells me she doesn’t even have to look. “Seventeen” she exclaims. “Seven-flipping-teen!”.

There is a weariness behind her grin. A sad fatigue that comes from what seemed like a full-time job managing all the people trying to help her back on her feet; hostel workers, social workers, family support in the school, a well-meaning GP.

We change tack and I ask her if she’d had just 50 quid a week to spend on improving her mental health back when it was really bad what she would have spent it on.

“Easy” she says, the grin now turning to another grimace, “childcare”. I needed a break - for my counselling, to go to a class or just to be with my auntie who was poorly and look after her.

This is our challenge: to be radical and rethink how we structure the relationship between people facing mental health struggles and the state systems we’ve ended up with today. If the state can create individual budgets for the care of our elderly relatives, we must consider more radical ways to empower individuals with mental health challenges - giving them power and choice, while ensuring appropriate support is available.

Being radical also means a relentless focus on the needs of people who are losing out. In Harrogate, the town where Wellspring is based and which has the reputation of being a genteel, prosperous place, recent NHS data has illustrated the impact of the Harrogate district’s housing crisis and also its ageing population on peoples’ mental health. With the highest housing costs in North Yorkshire, families with mental health problems in insecure accommodation are finding their conditions are worsening significantly due to the stress of living in hostels and bed and breakfasts, this is the story of Jan. The 33 per cent increase in the frail elderly population means that services for mental health need to adjust significantly to meet the demand for this bulge in the district’s population.

Whether it’s housing services, education, primary care or charities like Wellspring, we must rethink how we build a new relationship with people and their families, giving them the power and money they need to help themselves. We need to reflect honestly about how we collectively raise awareness of mental health, without encouraging false demand from people who might talk themselves into believing they have a problem. We need to listen to parents like Jan who experience insecure housing otherwise her children will end up on an NHS waiting list along with the thousands around Yorkshire waiting for assessments.

Did Jan’s poor mental health cause her descent into poverty or was it the other way around? If we’d asked her what she needed earlier on would her life have improved quicker? Could 50 pounds a month have made more difference than the millions spent on services? These are the vital questions that we need to answer – urgently.

I’d like to conclude this article with a couple of uncomfortable statistics. There are currently 69 adults, who are waiting for counselling at Wellspring and who we are desperately keen to see, while there are over 270,000 children nationally still waiting for mental health support, with nearly 40,000 of those experiencing a wait of over two years. This is unacceptable in a supposedly civilised society.

The clock is ticking. Good mental health is a human right and good for the economy, but the UK is sleepwalking into a full-blown mental health crisis, and unless this crisis is tackled in a joined-up, holistic way, this country faces a very bleak future indeed. Let’s put people, their families and their neighbours at the centre of their health and care provision. Let’s do it for the sake of Jan and the thousands and thousands of people like her.

Nick Garrett is interim CEO of Harrogate-based mental health charity Wellspring Therapy and Training.