In a project commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care, Article 39 has heard directly from young people about changes proposed in the government’s Draft Mental Health Bill, and their experiences as children of mental health detention.
Young people’s reflections are published today in a report called “In what world is this hospital care?”: young people’s views on fixing the Mental Health Act 1983.
The Draft Mental Health Bill, published in June 2022, makes substantial changes to the Mental Health Act 1983.
Over a three-month period, a specially convened Young People’s Advisory Team, whose members were aged 17 to 25, analysed and discussed the Draft Mental Health Bill alongside other matters important to them and central to their experiences of mental health inpatient units. This includes independent mental health advocates; restraint; treatment from staff; children being sent to hospital many miles from home; children admitted to adult wards; the role of nearest relative; and assessing competence.
Article 39 and the Young People’s Advisory Team were deeply disappointed at the absence of a Mental Health Bill in the King’s Speech last month. Young people’s experiences of mental health detention as children – set out in their own words in this new report – should be the impetus for new legal protections, tailor-made for children, and widespread cultural change. We are thrilled that many of the young people who were part of this legal project have now joined our Blooming Change group for young people who were detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 as children.
Members of the Young People’s Advisory Team explain what working on this project meant to them:
“It’s amazing seeing those that have experienced such awful things come together and make a difference. I also appreciate the work of everyone fighting for better rights, and for charities like this [Article 39] to exist. Knowing what I went through matters, and I don’t have to stay silent about all the painful things I experienced. I can use them to make sure things change so no one has to experience what we did.”
“In the past I felt awful when I wasn’t any better after lengthy stays in the children’s hospitals. I thought I should be doing better, and some professionals said I wasn’t trying hard enough, that clearly hospital wasn’t right for me, when in reality it’s because of how I was treated in there, the abuse and neglect I experienced, the trauma I went through.”
“We can’t help being unwell, all we need is kindness and a safe place to get help. Staff need more compassion and understanding. We are humans too. We didn’t ask to be unwell; we didn’t want to be put in hospital. It’s a terrifying experience and we should be given support and professionals should be doing what they can to make sure we feel listened to, to make sure our voices are heard. Everyone in this group is helping make sure this happens and I’m so proud of everyone. Together we can make a difference.”
“A massive thank you, being involved has been a huge honour and I value this experience so much.”
“It’s been an amazing opportunity and eye-opening knowing as a group we have all identified the same points of improvements and opinions.”
“I really enjoy experiences like this because I don’t often have the courage or confidence to share what I went through and voice my opinions about the system. It’s something I really enjoy and that gives me hope for mine and others future … I always feel really inspired when I hear what other people have been through and how they are getting through it and it’s one of the things that has helped me the most in my journey. I always learn so much from other people and I have so much admiration for everyone I have met through things like this.”
“Being a part of something like this really gives me something to be proud of and on days where I feel like a failure, I know can remind myself I’m not because I’ve been involved in a part of history. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to be involved in something like this. It gives me hope that things may change and that the truth will get out. What I and so many other people have gone through often never gets proper justice or even recognition, but I feel like slowly there is a movement beginning and more and more people are speaking out, and opportunities like this are really helping. Thank you for giving me the space to talk about my story.”