CAMHS CRISIS
Child and
Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are in crisis with teachers now in
the front line of trying to support young people with mental health problems
erupting in classrooms causing chaos. Stress levels among teachers are rising
dramatically as a result. But as well as staff shortages, cutbacks in budgets
and increased demand stretching CAMHS services and putting pressure on
teachers, there is another consequence that will not garner many headlines- the
rising number of suicides and self harm among young people.
The numbers of
those young people found to have committed suicide each year are a stark
reminder of the painful human cost of a failure by governments to invest in
children's well-being and prevent the onset of mental illness. The loss of a
young life is always shocking and distressing but in the case of suicide there
is an added sense of despair and helplessness evoked. Suicide is now the second
most common cause of death in young men and women in the UK yet stigma and
shame continue to blight those trying to cope and mental health is never
politically popular.
Data from
the Office for National Statistics (ONS) provides an opportunity to examine in
closer detail what has been happening over the past 30 years, from 1981 to
2011. The official press release highlighted the recent jump in the annual
number of suicides. There were 6,045 suicides in people aged 15 and over in the
UK in 2011, compared with 5608 in 2010 – a rise of 437 people. The ONS figures
showed that the UK suicide rate “increased significantly” from 11.1 deaths per
100,000 population to 11.8 deaths per 100,000 population. These statistics
relate to the whole population, so it is worth noting that the corresponding figures
for young people aged between 15 and 25 years were: 14.1 and 14.8 deaths per
100,000 population. Young people are thus more at risk of suicide than older
people.
However
closer analysis of the 30 year data reveals some worrying trends in the context
of the current Economic crisis. For children aged 15-19 years there were on
average more than 4 suicides every week, while for young people aged 19-25
there were 14 per week. Together on average nearly 3 young people between the
ages of 15 and 25 committed suicide every day of the week. Put together the
total number of suicides between 1981 and 2011 of young people between 15 and
25 years of age who committed suicide was 21,006. Or an average of over 700 per
year.
The figures
show that in the peak years of unemployment in 1983/84; 1992/93 and 2009/10 there
were higher than average numbers of suicides in young people. As youth
unemployment nears 1 million there is no doubt that the numbers for 2014/15
will show record numbers of suicides. Many research studies have shown a
correlation between poverty/unemployment and youth suicides.
The
recording of suicides by coroners is variable around the country and is
understood to be an under-representation of the actual number of suicides in
young people officially recorded due to the lack of evidence in many unusual
deaths of a corroborating note, or other indication of intent. Coroners are
reluctant therefore to record an official suicide verdict where there is any
doubt and also to protect the feelings of grieving parents and family.
The previous
Labour government launched the National Suicide Prevention Strategy in 2002 with a target of reducing suicides by
at least 20 per cent by the year 2010. This period combined with an
unprecedented increased in NHS funding and specific hefty increases in Child
and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) budgets. That target was achieved
in terms of suicides in young people, and it happened to co-incide with a
period of strong Economic growth. Some MP's are so concerned about CAMHS and
that the House of Commons Health Committee is starting a Parliamentary Enquiry.
Teachers, Parents, CAMHS staff and young people will draw little comfort from
this. The last National Report in 2008 from the NHS demanded increased training
for all staff working with young people, more specialist resources and extra
investment in early intervention services to prevent problems arising in the
first place. 2008 was the year Lehmans Bank collapsed triggering the latest
Capitalist crisis and ushering in austerity, a terrible cost in young people's
lives and devastating family's lives in ways that are incalculable.
Steven Walker (Author of The Social Workers Guide to Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Jessica Kingsley).
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