Mental health Sheffield: More than 10,000 young people waiting for support, shadow minister says

The round table meeting today, Tuesday, April 18, was organised to help Dr Allin-Khan understand the unmet needs of service users within mental health.

“I have been on wards with children where they have told me that they are really struggling but CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) won’t come,” Dr Allin-Khan said. “They were literally begging but weren’t able to get the support they needed, which is why I need to have these conversations.”

CEO of Sheffield Mind, Margaret Lewis said: “We have noticed an increase of people contacting Sheffield Mind since the start of the pandemic and it really hasn’t gone down. All of our services are over-subscribed, and we have to say to people that our waiting list is closed. Quite often we have no one to refer them to except back to their GP who has probably told them to ring us.”

According to Dr Allin-Khan, there are over 10,000 children and young people waiting for mental health support as well as 50,000 adults in Sheffield.

One issue spoken about in the meeting was how different departments need to support the mental health departments with helping service users as different users have different needs.

“Mental health has to work with different departments because people’s adverse life and childhood experiences are the single biggest driver of mental ill health.” Dr Allin Khan said. “So it’s asking how we can go about working with each department to enact the greatest change.”

Nighat Basharat, mental health recovery worker at Sheffield Health and Social Care Trust, said: “The key is for everyone to work together from the top to the grassroots. That is why these engagements are necessary, so people understand the grassroots and see what problems are here.”

Other problems spoken about in the meeting included:

Service users are constantly being referred to IAPT and it hasn’t worked for them which can lead people to feel helpless. After that point, it’s hard to get them to engage

People need to be educated on the differences between mental health and a learning disability and how to treat them independently

People are often bounced between services which can be disheartening

Need for new ideas on how to treat people as everyone is different

GPs aren’t sure where to send people leading to referrals that aren’t appropriate which slows down the process for all service users and increases wait time

More staff needed.

At the meeting, Tim Cruickshank, a probation officer at Sheffield Mind, said: “When I was struggling, I couldn’t find anything, and I am within the service myself. So, I can’t even imagine what it would be like for those who don’t know people like I do.”

Sheffield Mind provides many services including the ‘Here For You’ phone line service, drop-in coffee mornings and the ‘Springboard’ peer support group. Another successful service is the ‘This Is Us’ programme which is an art therapy group where you can do art and talk about any issues you have. Sheffield Mind is running a drop-in session for ‘This Is Us’ in Sheffield Central Library on May 17.

If you want to contact Sheffield Mind, call 0114 258 4489 or email: [email protected].