Survey of 236 young people caught up in 2017 blast shows 29% have not received any mental health support
Nearly one in three children and young people caught up in the Manchester Arena attack have not received any professional help, a study has found.
A survey of 236 young people affected by the atrocity found that 29% had not had any psychological help, despite most feeling damaged by the blast six years ago.
Continue reading...Ellie Taylor, 15 at the time of 2017 terrorist attack, was shocked by how hard it was to obtain trauma counselling
Ellie Taylor had been looking forward to the Ariana Grande concert for months. It was a 15th birthday present from her mother and was perfectly timed – the day of her first GCSE exam. The date was 22 May 2017.
Ellie, now 21, recalls shards of memory from that appalling day. She remembers watching Martyn Hett “living his best life” as he danced in Block 103 – he was a stranger at the time but she later recognised his face on the news.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Sector’s staffing crisis will have knock-on effect on whole NHS system, warns healthcare leader
UK ministers must set out how to recruit and retain thousands more mental health nurses to plug the profession’s biggest staff shortage, healthcare leaders are warning.
Mental health nurses account for nearly a third of all nursing vacancies across England, resulting in overstretched services that are struggling to deliver timely care, according to research carried out by the NHS Confederation’s mental health network.
Continue reading...Alzheimer’s Society says fear and confusion delays discussion for 33% of those who think they or a loved one may have dementia
A third of Britons who have concerns about whether they, or a loved one, might have dementia wait more than a month to discuss their worries with others, a leading charity has found, despite early diagnosis being important for treatment, support and planning.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 55 million people have dementia worldwide, with 60-70% of cases thought to be down to Alzheimer disease.
Continue reading...Daniel Penny, a former marine who surrendered to police in New York, could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty
The man who killed Jordan Neely after putting him in a chokehold while on a subway in New York City has been charged with second-degree manslaughter, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said on Friday.
Daniel Penny, 24, could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty under the charge. Penny surrendered himself to New York police on Friday morning.
Continue reading...DWP, GP surgery and social landlord failed to spot risks for Errol Graham, who had benefits cut despite being severely mentally ill
Welfare officials failed to properly identify the risk of harm to Errol Graham, a severely mentally ill man whose disability benefit payments they cut off and who died of starvation eight months later, an official report has found.
An independent safeguarding review into the “shocking and disturbing” events leading to Graham’s tragic and lonely death concluded that multiple failings by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), his GP practice, and social landlord meant that chances to save him were missed.
Continue reading...With hospitals struggling amid the violence, medics are using helplines on messaging platforms to reach those in need
Sudanese doctors are turning to social media to reach patients as hospitals and heath facilities struggle to function or close completely in the violence. Volunteers have set up 24-hour helplines on messaging platforms including WhatsApp, staffed by hundreds of doctors and specialists.
Only 16% of hospitals in the capital, Khartoum, are operating at full capacity, according to the World Health Organization. Last week at least four people, including a child, were killed in an airstrike outside East Nile hospital in north Khartoum, while Médecins Sans Frontières reported that El Geneina teaching hospital, in west Darfur, was looted on 28 April. Doctors in the country are reporting death threats and on Monday two volunteers who were working to reopen a hospital in Bahri were released after being held for days by the army.
Continue reading...ASA reports rise in complaints about ads that mislead customers about benefits of treatments like Botox
The advertising watchdog is banning growing numbers of advertisements that exaggerate the benefits of health and beauty treatments such as Botox, lip fillers and diet aids.
The Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) action is part of a crackdown against beauty clinics and manufacturers of aesthetic products over how they promote themselves.
Continue reading...Perinatal mental health services do not meet national quality standards, report finds
Women’s lives are being put at risk by substandard mental health care during their pregnancy and in the first year after childbirth in most parts of the UK, a report has found.
About one in every five women develops a mental illness at some point during the perinatal period, the stage from pregnancy up to a year after giving birth. However, none of the health and social care boards in Northern Ireland or Wales met the national quality standards created by the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Perinatal Quality Network (PQN).
Continue reading...Humans with condition can have disturbed sleep, and similar symptoms in dogs indicate cognitive decline is under way
From loud snores to twitching paws, dogs often appear to have a penchant for a good snooze. But researchers have said elderly canines with dementia appear to spend less time slumbering than those with healthy brains – mirroring patterns seen in humans.
It has long been known that people with dementia can experience sleep problems, including finding it harder to get to sleep. Researchers have also found changes in the brainwaves of people with dementia during sleep – including decreased slow brain waves that occur during non-rapid eye movement deep sleep. These are important in memory consolidation and appear to be linked to the activity of the brain’s system for clearing away waste.
Continue reading...Calls for police powers to be rolled back in favour of funding for youth services and mental health initiatives
A community-led approach is needed to tackle serious youth violence, such as more funding for youth services and mental health initiatives while rolling back police powers, a report has said.
Education is central to the fight against serious youth violence, which must involve an end to school exclusions and the removal of police from schools, according to Holding Our Own: A guide to non-policing solutions to serious youth violence.
Continue reading...Evidence to MPs claims parents more cautious about sending children to school with minor ailments
Increased anxiety and lack of mental health support are driving a steep increase in children missing school since the Covid pandemic, with some children “struggling to leave home”, according to councils in England.
Local authorities are also highlighting budget pressures that have forced cuts in school support staff, with some schools trying to “manage” students out of classrooms or disguising their attendance records, while others are “off-rolling” students to artificially boost school exam results.
Continue reading...Report shows anxiety over the environment is prominent among teenagers, such as Ruby Bron who feels ‘helpless’ about future
Ruby Bron feels “helpless” and “anxiety-ridden” when she thinks about the future and the irreversible damage occurring because of the climate crisis.
The 17-year-old Sydney student says without drastic action to cut emissions, her generation will be left to deal with the climate crisis in an increasingly damaged and volatile world.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: child mental health crisis deepens with one-third of all referrals denied help
A quarter of a million children in the UK with mental health problems have been denied help by the NHS as it struggles to manage surging case loads against a backdrop of a crisis in child mental health.
Some NHS trusts are failing to offer treatment to 60% of those referred by GPs, the research based on freedom of information request responses has found.
In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. You can contact the mental health charity Mind by calling 0300 123 3393 or visiting mind.org.uk. YoungMinds is at youngminds.org.uk.
Continue reading...Veronica Nelson’s mother among critics of Thirrili, which encouraged people to contact it if they didn’t feel its support was adequate
First Nations families grieving the loss of loved ones have accused a federally funded Indigenous suicide and trauma support service of failing to turn up to appointments, not responding to phone calls and not replying to financial support requests.
Guardian Australia has spoken to four First Nations families who have raised concerns about the service provided by the not-for-profit Thirrili, which provides financial, social and emotional support to Indigenous families affected by suicide and trauma.
Continue reading...The creation of a facility such as the Hamilton centre was a key finding of Victoria’s mental health royal commission
When Benn Veenker first confided in his GP about his struggle with depression and alcohol, he was holding back the full extent of his addictions.
“I was so scared of being able to say to somebody, ‘I can’t get through a day without drinking’,” he remembers.
Continue reading...Burnout, poor work/life balance and ‘unsustainable’ pressures are causing many NHS family practitioners to consider retirement
GPs in the UK have some of the highest stress levels and lowest job satisfaction among family doctors, a 10-country survey has found.
British GPs suffer from high levels of burnout, have a worse work/life balance and spend less time with patients during appointments than their peers in many other places.
Continue reading...Seven deputies and three hospital workers charged with second-degree murder in death of Black man at Virginia mental facility
A large group of sheriff’s deputies and employees of a Virginia mental hospital pinned patient Irvo Otieno to the floor until he was motionless and limp, then began unsuccessful resuscitation efforts, newly obtained surveillance video of the incident earlier this month shows.
The footage obtained on Tuesday, which has no audio, shows various members of the group struggling with a handcuffed and shackled Otieno over the course of about 20 minutes after he was led into a room at Central State hospital in Petersburg, Virginia, where he was going to be admitted on 6 March. For most of the duration of the video, Otieno is on the floor being restrained by a fluctuating group that at one point appeared to number 10 people pressing down on various parts of his body.
Continue reading...A mother whose son was killed in Basra, a senior non-commissioned officer with PTSD and a psychiatric nurse reflect 20 years on
The Iraq war left a profound mark on the UK. It forced the country to face up to its role, having initially helped rid Iraq of a brutal dictator, in the years of deadly chaos that followed. At home, meanwhile, it acted as the catalyst for one of the most popular domestic antiwar movements the country has seen.
The conflict also left many people in the UK asking: could they ever really trust their political leaders at a time of national crisis again? And could it ever be right to send young men and women to war without having first exhausted all peaceful means – and without a clear idea of what they were even meant to achieve once they got there?
Continue reading...Suit alleges that Broward county sheriff’s office used excessive force as Kevin Desir suffered mental health emergency in 2021
The family of a Florida man who died after being violently restrained by jailers is filing a civil rights suit against the officers who were involved in the incident and the jail’s healthcare provider.
According to a draft of the lawsuit shared exclusively with the Guardian, the family of 43-year-old Kevin Desir alleges that Broward county sheriff officials used excessive force against Desir while he was suffering from a severe mental health episode, violating his 14th amendment rights.
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