Please amend the law to allow caregivers, parents or close loved ones the voice they need, to speak on behalf and for their Adult Child with Mental Health problems, when they are no longer in the mental health system, have been discharged or are in complete denial and have no insight into their own condition.
Please stop the barriers of the: "Adult will not engage", "We have to speak to the Adult", "We cannot talk to you" or "Your child is an Adult".
Why is this important?
My son took his life, age 23 yrs. His mental health for the last 4 years, since losing his father to Esophageal Cancer, in 2015 was up and down. He received some treatment & support in 2016/17 but was discharged in 2018, deemed well enough to no longer need the services. His mental health then deteriorated further, his life spiralled out of control and he was in complete denial about his health and completely lacking any insight into his problems. He also may have felt he needed to mask/hide his problems because; I believe they may have been too uncomfortable for him to talk about. When an Adult child is out of the "system"; It is very difficult to get them back into it unless they Engage, Co-operate or visit their GP or actively seek treatment. My argument is that they are too unwell to engage, especially when they lack insight into their condition. The problem the loved one, parent or care giver then faces is, in my experience, no-one will listen to you because: (they are over 18) and the Adult Child either refuses or does not seek help, which then leads to to them missing out on treatment or not receiving it at all.
Not listening to the parent/caregiver or their loved ones, because of confidentiality, in these circumstances, is in my opinion, "ridiculous". The parent/caregiver or loved one is usually the closest to these individuals and knows them best of all.
This has to stop and common sense must prevail. If the Adult child has a history of Mental Health problems, has a confirmed diagnosis, has sick notes and medication.........Caregivers/parents and close loved ones, must not have the confidentiality card shown to them. Healthcare providers must intervene and listen to the the people who are speaking up for and on behalf of their Adult child/loved one.
We are all responsible for SAFEGUARDING. We don't want to hear: "Call the Police". The Police are not adept at Mental Health issues and the unwell individual does not need this; they need care and assessments by professionally trained Psychiatric Dr's/Consultants or Senior Psychiatric Nurses and even if the Adult Child has never had an episode of Mental ill health, their nearest and dearest, who know them best and want to help them need to be listened to.
We cannot let any more young men or women slip through the net because "They Wont Engage" or "We cannot talk to you". This is a fob off and an insult. (Perhaps the individual would engage if you knew how to engage them).
I never want another Mother/Father/Caregiver or Loved One, to go through the extensive and heart wrenching pain I am going through right now. I plead for your support and for common sense to prevail.
We need to increase the availability of mental health resources and to reduce barriers to accessing care. (The World Health Organisation), (International Association for Suicide Prevention) and the (World Federation for Mental Health) all agree that barriers to accessing care need to be removed. Wikipedia
Thank you all so much for your support and reading and sharing my petition.
How it will be delivered
I would love to gather as many signatures as I possibly can and forward these to my local Health MP who will intern present this to Downing Street, for Parliament to consider.......(I Hope).
I need at least 10,000 signatures for this to even reach Downing Street and I cannot do this without all you wonderful people signing and sharing this petition.
