CHARITY FOCUS With children and young people’s mental health issues on the rise, Rockinghorse Children’s Charity are supporting services and projects aimed at helping young people to survive and thrive
Rockinghorse Children’s Charity supports the mental health crisis in Sussex We have all seen the news recently about the increasing numbers of young people who are struggling with their mental health, with sharp rises in the numbers being admitted to hospitals with severe mental ill-health such as eating disorders, suicide and self-harm. Between April and October last year, the numbers of children needing care for serious mental health issues increased by 77%. This number can be difficult to put into context, but it translates as one in six children, or five children in a class of 30 will have a diagnosable mental health problem. Dr Mohammed Rahman, Paediatric
Consultant and Lead for the HDU at the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital, Brighton, is at the sharp end of this crisis, seeing hundreds of young patients a day come through the A&E department at the hospital.
On top of that, a couple of years ago Brighton was named as the UK town most affected by County Lines, where criminal gangs from larger cities exploit vulnerable young people to supply and distribute drugs.
Dr Rahman said: “We have huge numbers of young people feeling depressed, anxious and unwanted. The numbers of teenagers we have requiring hospital admission for self-harm or attempted suicide are considerably higher compared to the national average. The amount with eating disorders has rocketed and we are seeing increasing numbers of teenagers attending A&E for alcohol or substance misuse.
As a team we do the best we can during the time these young people are in hospital, but we simply don’t have the time to explore some of the underlying issues resulting in their visit to A&E or follow up cases in a way that might prevent them from needing to be re-admitted.” And these mental health issues aren’t just related to young people in crisis. There are also hundreds of children and teenagers with long-term physical health conditions like cancer, diabetes and cystic fibrosis who have really struggled with their mental health over the last two years. Children like 13-year-old Rose, who has a genetic condition that causes her quite a number of significant health issues which affect her kidneys, lungs, liver and is also severely visually impaired. Rose’s mum Lara said: “The last couple of years have definitely had an effect on Rose’s mental health. The loneliness, the difficulty in re-integrating into society and the lack of routine made things really difficult for her.” But Rockinghorse Children’s Charity is helping young people manage their mental health and help resolve some of the triggers and underlying issues causing their mental health to suffer.
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