Sarah Brennan2013-05-19T09:38:33-04:00Sarah Brennanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=sarah-brennanCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Sarah BrennanGood old fashioned elbow grease.Youth Charities' Campaign to Challenge Misconception About Self-Harmtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.27808142013-02-28T08:31:05-05:002013-04-30T05:12:01-04:00Sarah Brennanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-brennan/one in twelve young people self-harm at some point in their lives. Latest figures from ChildLine released today show a 167% increase in counselling sessions related to self-harm. These shocking statistics show how much more we have to do as a society to help support the emotional health and wellbeing of children and young people.
Friday is Self-Harm Awareness Day, it's an opportunity to get people talking about an issue that is too often ignored and kept secret. Four national charities, ChildLine, YouthNet (the charity behind TheSite.org), selfharm.co.uk and YoungMinds have come together to get the conversation started and to bust myths and stigma around self-harm.
The campaign is backed by X-Factor and N-Dubz star Tulisa who says
"It's incredibly sad that so many young people are using self-harm as a way to deal with their issues and that many are suffering in silence. I've experienced difficult periods in the past but having somebody to talk to makes the world of difference. I know many young people don't have this and I hope they can be made aware that they can contact the charities supporting this campaign to give them the care, help and support they need. That's why I'm supporting Self-Harm Awareness Day on March 1st and I urge everyone to do the same."
When YoungMinds conducted research last year into attitudes around self-harm we found that a third of parents would not seek professional help if their child was self-harming, almost half of GP's feel they don't understand young people who self-harm and why they and that two in three teachers don't know what to say to young people who self-harm.
There are many misconceptions surrounding why young people self-harm. The reality is that:
Self-harm is not a mental illness, nor is it an attempt to commit suicide.
It doesn't just affect girls. Boys self-harm too, but they are much less likely to tell anyone about it.
We know that young people from all walks of life self-harm, regardless of their social or ethnic background.
Self-harm is not a fashion fad, nor is it merely 'attention seeking behaviour'.
Most importantly, it is not easy for a young person to stop self-harming behaviour.
Also backing the campaign is Dr. Ranj Singh, an NHS children and young people's doctor and TV presenter. He says:
"In my professional role I see evidence of young people self-harming far too much and yet I only see the tip of the iceberg. Recognising the scale of the problem in the UK and challenging the misconceptions that are rife about it is vital if we are to begin to tackle this issue. What is clear is that we are currently not doing enough and need new and innovative ways to help these young people."
The charities hope that the awareness campaign will get people talking and help to reduce the stigma attached to self-harming which prevents many young people from seeking help. You can follow the campaign on Twitter via #selfharm and find out more about the campaign on each of the charities websites.
ChildLine offers children and young people aged 18 and under free, confidential advice and support 24 hours a day - no problem is too big or small. Our trained volunteer counsellors can be contacted through our helpline 0800 1111 or on www.childline.org.uk for online chat or email.
Selfharm.co.uk - Is a safe, pro-recovery website that supports young people who self-harm. It also offers training for parents, carers and professionals equipping them to handle disclosure and provide effective support.
YouthNet is the leading online charity behind TheSite.org, the online guide to life for 16-25 year olds. TheSite.org provides essential, straight-talking, anonymous advice to young people about the issues affecting their lives. 0207 520 5700 www.youthnet.org/ www.thesite.org
YoungMinds - YoungMinds is the UK's leading charity committed to improving the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people. YoungMinds provides a Parents' Helpline for any adult concerned about the mental health or wellbeing of a child or young person. 0808 802 5544 or www.youngminds.org.uk ]]>We Need to Break the Taboo Surrounding Self Harm and Start Talking About Ittag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19775162012-10-22T19:00:00-04:002012-12-22T05:12:01-05:00Sarah Brennanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-brennan/ Research by YoungMinds and the Cello group launched today shows:
• Three out of four young people simply do not know where to turn to talk about self-harm
• A third of parents would not seek professional help if their child was self-harming
• Almost half GPs feel that they don't understand young people who self-harm and their motivations
• Two in three teachers don't know what to say to young people who self-harm
The research findings are worrying. Among young people, parents, teachers and GPs self-harm is considered more concerning and more serious than many high-profile youth issues such as youth gangs, drugs, binge-drinking or eating disorders. Young people themselves also rank self harm as a very high area of concern.
Myths, misconceptions and lack of understanding characterize self-harm, our research shows it can be viewed as too serious with links to suicide or too trivial to prompt action by being seen as attention seeking. With this polarisation of views it makes it really difficult for people to seek or provide support.
As a society we feel ill equipped to talk to young people about self-harm and at the same time young people are saying they don't know where to turn. If as our research shows, parents, teachers and GPs don't feel equipped and confident then is it any wonder that young people are stuck not knowing where to go?
Only one in 10 young people are comfortable seeking advice from teachers, parents and GPs. Over half would go online to get support about self-harm despite only one in five trusting online sources. Thousands of young people are getting emotional support from online communities rather than going to their parents, teachers or GPs. Everyone concerned about the emotional wellbeing of young people needs to acknowledge and accept this and look at why young people are supporting each other online.
We shouldn't blame people for not being confident or equipped our research shows a real desire for people to be able to talk to young people about self harm. The majority of people believe that they need to be able to offer support to young people who self-harm; however, nobody feels empowered to act.
Thousands of young people are suffering in silence every day. Our research demonstrates that we need to break the conspiracy of silence around self-harm so young people feel more able to seek support and parents, teachers and GP's feel equipped to provide it. We also need to find ways to breach the gap online that exists between adults who want to help but don't know how to enter the online space and young people who find peer support there but may also come across the more negative and dark side of online communication.
The YoungMinds Parents' Helpline offers free confidential online and telephone support, including information and advice, to any adult worried about the emotional problems, behaviour or mental health of a child or young person up to the age of 25.
Call us free on 0808 802 5544 Monday to Friday 9.30am-4pm or email parents@youngminds.org.uk]]>What About Preparing Children and Young People for Life Not Just the Workplace?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.13728262012-03-23T19:00:00-04:002012-05-23T05:12:01-04:00Sarah Brennanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-brennan/"Education is... about leaving school as educated as you can be" offers a narrow view of what schooling should be about. We as a society need to look at the life skills we are providing children both at home and at school. Increasing academic achievement is vital for a striving nation but so is preparing a generation of children to cope with life.
Young people spend so much of their lives in schools it should surely be seen as an opportunity for building emotional resilience. This isn't necessarily about extra work for already over worked teachers it is about factoring pupil's wellbeing into the curriculum. The young people we work with through our VIK project tell us that their PSHE lessons rarely if ever focus on positive mental health and wellbeing. They tell us that issues such as healthy eating and obesity are taught but there are never any lessons about anorexia or other eating disorders.
A positive wellbeing agenda within schools is not only good for pupil's health it is good for having content and happy pupils engaged in the curriculum. Sadly OFSTED no longer inspect for a pupil's wellbeing, instead focusing almost solely on academic performance. Are we to consider a school a success if pupil's grades are high but the wellbeing of the pupils is low and mental illness is prominent?
The government's obsession with preparing children for the workplace conjures an image of schools as 'exam factories' and young people as parts on an ever moving assembly line. If schools are to become mere 'exam factories' churning out students with academic excellence behind them but little emotional resilience then the nation's mental health will suffer.
Last year YoungMinds Parents' Helpline received a record number of calls from people worried about a young person coping with the pressure of exams. When young people start struggling to cope at school it can often be just the start of a path leading to more severe mental illness. We should tell young people that exams and succeeding academically is important but we should not be afraid to tell them that living physical and mentally healthy lives is vital too.
The World Health Organisation predicts that by 2030 more people will suffer with depression than any other health problem. Working with young people on building emotional resilience and developing positive mental health in school can be part of the solution to tackling the growing problem of mental illness.
The YoungMinds in Schools programme, funded by the Department for Education, aims to improve outcomes for children and young people with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties by providing a comprehensive suite of online learning resources for educational professionals along with a range of training courses related to mental health and wellbeing in schools.
The project seeks to maximise the potential to positively influence the emotional wellbeing and mental health of the whole school community, adults and children, as well as addressing the specific needs of pupils identified as having behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESDs). ]]>Charities Appeal to Young People Not to Suffer in Silencetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.13125352012-03-01T05:14:05-05:002012-05-01T05:12:02-04:00Sarah Brennanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-brennan/
The statistics surrounding the number of children and young people self-harming are truly shocking. Around 1 in 12 children and young people are known to deliberately self-harm, with 25,000 admitted to hospital every year due to the severity of their injuries. There has been a 68% increase in the number of hospital admissions in the last ten years due to young people self-harming. These figures are deeply concerning however even more worryingly they are likely to just be the tip of the iceberg as the number of young people who self-harm in silence.
A survey hosted by Childline, Selfharm.co.uk and YouthNet for Self Harm Awareness Day shows just how many children and young people are suffering in silence. Of the 1,398 children and young people who answered the survey on the charities website 41% had deliberately hurt themselves and not told anybody about it.
As Tulisa says "It's incredibly sad that so many young people are using self-harm as a way to deal with their issues and that many are suffering in silence. I've experienced difficult periods in the past but having somebody to talk to makes the world of difference. I know many young people don't have this and I hope they can be made aware that they can contact the charities supporting this campaign to give them the care, help and support they need."
The charities and Tulisa are hoping that as a result of the campaign more children and young people who are using self-harm as a coping mechanism will find the strength to speak to someone about it either their friends, parents or a professional. The four charities between them are able to offer support and advice to children, young people and parents who may be concerned about self-harm.
ChildLine on 0800 1111 and www.childline.org.uk is the UK's only free and confidential 24-hour helpline for children in danger or distress. Trained volunteer counsellors comfort, advise and protect children and young people aged 18 and under.
Selfharm.co.uk - Is a safe, pro-recovery website that supports young people who self-harm. It also offers training for parents, carers and professionals equipping them to handle disclosure and provide effective support.
TheSite.org is an online guide to life for 16 to 25 year-olds, run by leading online charity YouthNet. TheSite.org provides trusted, non-judgemental support and advice on anything from self-harm to homework.
YoungMinds - YoungMinds is the UK's leading charity committed to improving the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people. YoungMinds provides a Parents' Helpline for any adult concerned about the mental health or wellbeing of a child or young person. 0808 802 5544 or www.youngminds.org.uk
Tulisa Contostavlos, female star of N-Dubz and straight-talking X-factor judge, came from humble beginnings and has achieved global success. Tulisa grew up on a council estate in Camden and as a teenager faced some difficult personal struggles including violence, depression and bullying. She witnessed her mother being sectioned at the age of 5 years old and went on to make a powerful documentary 'My mum and me' about caring for her mum. Despite a very hectic professional schedule, Tulisa is keen to make time to support vulnerable children and young people.
]]>Making Sure Looked After Young People Have Looked After Mental Healthtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.12784562012-02-15T07:13:32-05:002012-04-16T05:12:01-04:00Sarah Brennanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-brennan/Improving the mental health of Looked After Young People'. The report feels incredibly timely given the announcement last week from Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) showing that in January 2012 a record number of children were taken into care.
According to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) around 60% of Looked after Young People have some level of mental health problem and in addition are often amongst the most marginalised in society. Given the traumas and the emotional turbulence that these young people go through, is it any wonder that the level of mental health problems are so high?
YoungMinds report funded by the Network for Social Change is based on our work with 50 young people from residential homes, secure settings and foster placements where we ran creative workshops focussing on the areas of placements, education and support services.
When children have no experience of a trusting relationship with an adult and are frequently moved from placement to placement the emotional trauma is immense. We shouldn't be surprised when this emotional trauma occasionally spills out into anger and violence. Too often when these pent up feelings of rage are displayed services reach for behaviour enforcement rather than seeking to understand and support the child.
The poet Lemn Sissay at a seminar launching the report at the Imagine Children's Festival said that he thought far too much service provision was centred around protecting institutions rather than the wellbeing of the child. He gave the example of how hard it was for a young person to visit a child in care. What could be more important to a child's wellbeing than developing a friendship with possibly someone outside the care system for the first time?
It must be remembered that the report is a snapshot of young people's views but some striking themes do present themselves. In school, many young people said they felt that they identified as disruptive at school and they did not feel that their emotional needs were understood or that they could talk about their emotional needs at school, especially because staff did not have experience of the care system.
Often looked after young people present themselves in very different ways to how they are feeling on the inside. Our work examined with young people how they acted and how they felt about being in care. They would present themselves frequently as 'tough' and 'strong' but what they felt on the inside was 'scared' and 'vulnerable'. Imagine bottling up all those strong emotions and never being able to trust people enough to confide in them your true feelings. Again it is no wonder how many Looked after Young People have some level of mental health problems.
One of the most frequent pieces of feedback that participants stated over and over again was that they are tired of telling their peers 'I'm not like Tracy Beaker'. Tracy Beaker is seen as a positive role model for looked after young people however many young people felt that was the only representation of children in care on television. This strikes at a key recommendation of the report that there needs to be a much wider understanding of what it means to be a looked after young person, the traumas they have been through and the need to provide timely and effective support.]]>Local Health Authorities Need to Invest to Prevent a Mental Health Crisistag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.12620592012-02-08T19:00:00-05:002012-04-09T05:12:01-04:00Sarah Brennanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-brennan/ICM survey commissioned by patient.co.uk painted a grim picture of the state of young people's mental health in the UK today. With record youth unemployment, university increasingly unaffordable and unprecedented pressure to follow the latest consumer trends is it any wonder that almost half of young people feel stressed about the current economic downturn? As the finance of the nation declines so does our young people's mental health.
The World Health Organisation predicts that by 2030 more people will suffer with depression than any other illness. More stress and strain on young people impacts their mental health and inevitably increases the workload on the NHS and other services. It is vital that we recognise the importance of mental health services or we will be sitting, on a mental health timebomb where service provision cannot cope with ever increasing need.
The government's Mental Health Strategy 'No Health without Mental Health' rightly focuses on early intervention as being the key to reducing pressure on mental health services. The plan is simple, recognise the problem early and offer help and support before a young persons' mental health worsens. Not only is this good for a young person's mental health and wellbeing but it offers a financial benefit for service providers too. As the Children and Young People's Mental Health Coalition points out:
"At a time of increased financial uncertainty and economic constraint, investment in our children and young people's mental health and wellbeing is investment to save and an investment that will pay off in the medium to long term, bringing significant, health, social and economic benefits. Disinvestment would be a wholly false economy, worsening health and increasing costs"
It is vital that we invest in early intervention services and protect the budgets of children and adolescent mental health services. A survey by YoungMinds carried out last year into Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service budgets revealed that more than half of providers were cutting their budgets in 2011/2012.
As the CEO of a voluntary sector organisation I understand the impact that the economic downturn has had on budgets and the need for austerity measures by organisations. However, our analysis of the cuts reveals that it is early intervention services - the ones the government are trying to promote - that are suffering the most severe cutbacks. This is dangerous short-sighted budgeting.
Early intervention services such as school nurses trained to recognise emotional problems can identify issues and offer advice and support before these issues develop into more severe mental illness. Treating more severe problems is more expensive. As the Children and Young People's Mental Health Coalition points out it costs just £995 per family to provide a parenting training programme, the costs per child with severe conduct disorder total are an estimated £70,000 per head.
It is not all bad news, however. As pointed out in YoungMinds CAMHS Cuts briefing, NHS North of the Tyne has invested £1,140,000 in a community treatment service, which was launched in April 2011 and covers Newcastle, Northumberland and North Tyneside. The mobile team provides specialist support and capacity where needed to those with the most complex mental health needs and, where it becomes appropriate, offers support in the home. The service has been developed to support children and young people aged up to 18 who cannot ordinarily be supported by local CAMHS teams and who would otherwise be placed within inpatient or out-of-borough clinical settings.
There are other examples of good practice where commissioners have recognised that early intervention not only improves the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people but also offers them financial savings. However, this is sadly not the norm at a local level.
The localism agenda offers tremendous opportunities to shape services around local need however there are also tremendous risks, while early intervention has been identified at national government level the reality on the ground at local government level often looks very different.
Local health commissioners and providers simply have to invest in early intervention in Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services if we do not want to witness the mental health timebomb explode.
YoungMinds operates a Parents' Helpline which offers a free confidential online and telephone support, including information and advice, to any adult worried about the emotional problems, behaviour or mental health of a child or young person up to the age of 25. You can call free of charge between 9.30am- 4pm Monday- Friday on 0808 802 5544. ]]>