Jonny Benjamin’s journey from suicidal despair to mental health envoy

“We need to be tackling this now. I just see mental health provision getting worse.”

Jonny Benjamin’s journey from suicidal despair to mental health envoy

Mr Benjamin was talked out of killing himself – so he’s returning the favour BY: Katie Grant   @kt_grant Jonny Benjamin on Waterloo Bridge, where he tried to kill himself Channel 4   On a January morning in 2008 a young man from south London approached the edge of Waterloo Bridge and prepared to throw himself off. Jonny Benjamin […]

Austerity is having a ‘profoundly disturbing’ effect on Britain’s mental health, say experts

Austerity is having a ‘profoundly disturbing’ effect on Britain’s mental health, say experts

Austerity and cuts to benefits designed to drive people to work is having a “profoundly disturbing” effect on the people’s mental health, according to a letter signed by hundreds of psychotherapists, councillors and other experts in the field.

The letter, sent to The Guardian newspaper, warned that poverty and increasing inequality was causing a new wave of distress in Britain.

It said that what they described as the Government’s “get to work therapy” was “manifestly not therapy at all”.

Girl, 16, with mental health problems held by police for nearly 48 hours as ‘no NHS beds free’

A teenager with mental health problems has been held in custody by police since Thursday night as there are no beds available on the NHS, according to a senior police officer.

The 16-year-old girl was detained on Thursday night and was sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983 by Friday lunchtime, said Assistant Chief Constable Paul Netherton of Devon and Cornwall Police.