Suicidal teen fined for causing public nuisance on motorway bridge contemplating jumping

[Gill635]

Is it possible that arresting and charging her is the only way to actually get her help?

Getting help for those with mental illness is near impossible. If they’re not asking for help, then they need to be causing harm to themselves or others. Maybe this is the only way to get her this help?

I certainly hope help is what she gets the poor thing

I live under a large bridge, which until a couple of years ago was the only way in or out for 2 towns. It was constantly busy 24 hours a day. People would climb this bridge several times a week. Sadly some jumped, but most didn’t. Every single time the entire area came to a complete standstill, and no one could get anywhere, including to the local hospital. Eventually they had to resort to putting a sign on the bridge, that in layman’s terms stated if you climbed and didn’t jump, you would be prosecuted and charged for the emergency services!

Certainly wouldn’t help those in genuine need

[skalexander]

Originally Posted by Gill635

Is it possible that arresting and charging her is the only way to actually get her help?

Getting help for those with mental illness is near impossible. If they’re not asking for help, then they need to be causing harm to themselves or others. Maybe this is the only way to get her this help?

I certainly hope help is what she gets the poor thing

I live under a large bridge, which until a couple of years ago was the only way in or out for 2 towns. It was constantly busy 24 hours a day. People would climb this bridge several times a week. Sadly some jumped, but most didn’t. Every single time the entire area came to a complete standstill, and no one could get anywhere, including to the local hospital. Eventually they had to resort to putting a sign on the bridge, that in layman’s terms stated if you climbed and didn’t jump, you would be prosecuted and charged for the emergency services!

Certainly wouldn’t help those in genuine need

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I’ve had clients who have been given probation and it has actually opened up support which they didn’t previously have whilst they sit on the waiting list for mental health. However, we have a very good probation service here, which works very effectively with other agencies.

The UK probation setup is under-resourced and appears to be is in tatters, hence the reforms announced this week. I had cause to review a probation service file from a UK provider for a client who has been under supervision by them for 18 months. Honestly can’t see what they’ve done with him apart from chat to him every month or two to ask how things are going - no courses, workshops, referrals to other agencies, etc - a completely pointless punishment. It will literally be a lottery as to whether this girl will get the help she needs.

[Twin mummy]

Ironic that this week is mental heath awareness week!

[Gill635]

Originally Posted by skalexander

I’ve had clients who have been given probation and it has actually opened up support which they didn’t previously have whilst they sit on the waiting list for mental health. However, we have a very good probation service here, which works very effectively with other agencies.

The UK probation setup is under-resourced and appears to be is in tatters, hence the reforms announced this week. I had cause to review a probation service file from a UK provider for a client who has been under supervision by them for 18 months. Honestly can’t see what they’ve done with him apart from chat to him every month or two to ask how things are going - no courses, workshops, referrals to other agencies, etc - a completely pointless punishment. It will literally be a lottery as to whether this girl will get the help she needs.

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That’s so heartbreaking!

It’s time more money was put into the treatment and care for those with mental illnesses.

I’ve seen the devastation they cause, not only for the person who is ill, but for everyone around them.

We should be helping these people

[skalexander]

Originally Posted by Gill635

That’s so heartbreaking!

It’s time more money was put into the treatment and care for those with mental illnesses.

I’ve seen the devastation they cause, not only for the person who is ill, but for everyone around them.

We should be helping these people

See more...

The trouble is a lot of people with mental health problems come to light via the criminal justice system. They’re then criminalised, and the last thing the public want taxpayers money spent on is criminals - be it legal aid, probation services, prisons etc. especially at a time when the NHS and education need money, and they’re more “deserving”. The fact that proper spending would doubtless be more effective in addressing mental health and crime generally than the current level of resources seems to be entirely lost on the public and politicians.

I’m in the process of trying to write an article on the subject of mental health and criminal justice but it’s very hard as I need to be balanced but I mostly just want to get my soapbox out every 2 minutes (as you’ve probably noticed )

[buryboy]

Originally Posted by Gill635

That’s so heartbreaking!

It’s time more money was put into the treatment and care for those with mental illnesses.

I’ve seen the devastation they cause, not only for the person who is ill, but for everyone around them.

We should be helping these people

See more...

The difficulty is the cost of the care - at least for those in real need - is SO expensive . An inpatient costs about £500 a night at the Priory and patients need months and sometimes years of such care . Yet the Priory struggle to break even , and based on the recent programme , struggle to recruit staff with the skills to manage care effectively

[3disneykids]

And all that money and time used to prosecute her and the wages used each time she made an attempt could have been used constructively to provide her with support. This is society gone mad. On the other side there are murderers and paedophiles using public money for legal aid how did it come to this ?

[Chilli-pepper]

Originally Posted by Gill635

It’s time more money was put into the treatment and care for those with mental illnesses.

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There is a lot of money being put into children MH services, the problem is the unrealistic deadlines that PHE are placing on the funds. eg - after the recent green paper funds have been made available, but one of the projects has a 4 month deadline to recruit, train and get the new service up and running, this is unrealistic, so that money may well be lost if we cannot deliver on time, and for our local service that is 1.6m. equally the funds are short term and that is not appealing when trying to recruit.

I work in commissioning for our LA and CCG for CAMHS and our core CAMHS service constantly run at a 33% deficit in staffing level, there are simply not the staff out there to recruit to, naturally this has an impact on wait times and level of service on offer, this is not down to lack of money, but lack of available staff.

[waiting4disney]

Not meaning to sound insensitive but I think there is more to it than printed in ths story. Maybe as others said it was to get her access to more help as I've never heard of anyone being charged before.
Maybe as it was her 6th attempt in same place they knew her current care wasn't helping.
Hope she gets the extra help she needs as it's clearly a massive cry for help.

[LunaNyteskye]

It’s an absolute tragedy. We see it at work all the time. They’re crying out for help and what they get instead is a criminal record.

You know things are really messed up when someone has made several serious attempts to take their own life (to the point they end up in intensive care) and the doctors at the mental health unit say it would do more harm than good to admit them! So they get another entry on their record and a prison sentence instead.