Failed by the NHS

'One in four of us has a mental illness.'

'And if that's not you, then it's probably somebody you know.'

'Our young minds should be safe in the hands of the NHS,

'but all too often, we're not getting the care we deserve.'

My name is Jonny.

I'm 26 years old and I have schizoaffective disorder,

a combination of schizophrenia and depression.

'I was let down by the health service

'when I came close to taking my own life.'

I was a risk to myself,

so why did it take so long to actually get help?

'Over the past five months, I've travelled the country,

'meeting other young people

'who are just as angry about their treatment.'

My life was, like, falling apart

and I had to beg and fight for this appointment.

I do blame them for my mental health deteriorating afterwards

to a point where I wanted to hurt myself.

That's what they make you feel like.

They make you feel like you are a burden.

'I'll be meeting the medics exposing the truth about a failing system.'

'There are cuts happening everywhere'

and the people that suffer because of that are the patients.

'And I'll be hearing from the families still looking for answers.'

One of the hardest gifts to buy your child is a headstone.

It's the final gift.

'I'm going to reveal just how badly those of us with mental illness

'are being failed by the NHS

'and what the Government is going to do about it.'

'This is me when I was three years old.

'I had a happy childhood,

'but it was also when I began to experience mental health problems.'

'I was ten when I started to hear a voice in my head,

'and as a teenager, I believed my whole life was being filmed.'

'At the time, I thought it was all normal,

'but I now know these were classic symptoms of schizophrenia.'

# Welcome to the inner workings of my mind

# So dark and foul I can't disguise

# Can't disguise... #

I first asked the NHS for help with my mental health when I was 17,

but I never got the support I needed.

And as a result, it took years for my condition to be diagnosed.

'One of the worst failures happened when I was a student in Manchester.

'It was before I was diagnosed

'and I was going through a serious mental breakdown.'

'There's no escape from... There's no escape... Devils...'

I felt like I was being' possessed by the Devil.

I was in the grips of psychosis and desperate to take my life,

so I ran out the house.

'There's no escape from... There's no escape... Devils inside...'

I was walking the streets, completely out of control.

Came into this busy road

and just remember running alongside it,

screaming and shouting at all the cars going past.

Eventually, I just collapsed

and I remember my housemates came and found

me and they took me to the local A&E down the road.

I just wanted to end it all.

I told the psychiatrist this,

but he said there wasn't much he could do,

didn't have any beds available.

Just gave me some Valium and sent me on my way.

'Jayne was one of my best friends at university

'and she took me to A&E when I was thinking about taking my own life.'

Wow!

HE LAUGHS

-So weird!

-God, it looks totally different!

'I've brought her back to my old student house in Manchester.'

What do you remember about that night?

I think that night was probably one of the worst nights ever.

So we got to A&E.

I was just sat there, thinking, like, you know,

"Can we be seen already? And just, "We need some help now."

And then that male doctor came. Do you remember?

He spoke to all three of us and you probably don't know this,

and I don't think... I've probably not told you before,

but he spoke to me and Tom outside and he said,

"Is there any way he's sort of..."

I can't remember his words,

but it were basically, sort of, being dramatic, putting this on.

-No way!

-Yeah.

I don't think I've ever told you that

because I don't want to upset you, but I thought... I think now...

Well, exactly. And I think now, looking back,

you'd got to that point, you were asking for help,

and a medical professional psychiatrist, or whoever he was,

was basically trying to brush it aside, what had happened.

I remember saying to him, "Help me, help me!"

Like, "I'm going to kill myself if you let me go. You need to help me."

He was just saying to me, "Well, we can't really admit you.

"You'll have to go home," and I remember... I begged him!

I remember begging him at one point, being, like,

"You can't let me go home

"cos I don't know what I'm going to do to myself."

I just think when you get to that point and you're asking for help,

and that's the sort of support you receive, how awful is that?

-See you!

-Send my love to Joe.

-I will do. Bye!

-See you later.

I've always felt pretty angry

at the way I was treated at A&E that night.

To even suggest that I was putting on my suicidal feelings,

the voice I was hearing in my head,

is just beyond me.

And the awful thing is, I know other people have been through that,

and are still going through that today.

And I was one of the lucky ones because I had support around me.

I had my friends around me.

I know that if I'd have gone alone to A&E

and if I'd have had that reaction...

..I don't know if I'd still be here today.

My difficulties in getting help for my mental illness from the NHS

inspired me to start researching the problem.

And I've discovered 2,000 psychiatric beds have been cut

in the last two years in England.

I now have an online video blog

to find out if other young people are also experiencing problems.

I get messages all the time from people through YouTube

and they're saying to me, "What do I do?

"I'm experiencing mental illness and I can't get the help that I need."

'It's surprising how many young people

'are struggling to get help from the NHS.'

There's three problems which keep coming up again and again.

Problems with GPs,

problems with child and adolescent mental health services,

and problems with A&E.

If someone self-harms or attempt suicide,

they're usually taken to A&E.

NHS guidelines say such patients

are always supposed to be assessed by a mental health specialist

as well as having any physical wounds treated,

But Professor Nav Kapur has found out

that this isn't happening in 50% of hospitals.

Half of people who had self-harmed

got an assessment of their mental health needs,

their social needs, what might help.

And half of people didn't.

And so, for those half of people who didn't,

that's a missed opportunity,

a missed opportunity to learn more about the problem,

to engage people in treatment and, potentially,

a missed opportunity to prevent future self-harm, or even suicide.

The problem is there just aren't enough mental health specialists

to assess and treat people in our hospitals' emergency departments.

I'm driving to Great Yarmouth to meet Emma,

whose mental health needs are being repeatedly ignored

when she's ended up in A&E.

-Hiya. You Emma?

-Yeah.

-I'm Jonny.

-Nice to meet you.

'She's 21 years old and shares a house with her partner, Shanice.'

-Hiya.

-Hiya.

-You all right? I'm Jonny. How's it going?

-Fine, thank you.

-Cool, cool.

-Would you like a cup of tea?

-Yeah.

Please, please. Yeah, I'd love a cup of tea.

-So, is this place both of yours?

-Yes.

-Yeah, we moved in in August last year.

-Oh, right. Cool.

And where did you two meet?

-BOTH: Online.

-Oh, right, OK. Cool.

We've been together a year and a bit now.

'Emma has been diagnosed with bipolar,

'post-traumatic stress disorder,

'and borderline personality disorder.

'Every day, she takes a combination of pills

'to stay on top of her mental health problems.'

I take my Quetiapines at night because they're a sedative.

And I take these ones in the morning.

What would you be like if you didn't take your meds?

Oh, I'd be a state!

I mean, in the past, when I haven't been medicated properly,

I'd go into a shop and spend £300 and not take a second thought.

But if you flip it over, and sort of the depression,

you're talking about drink, you're talking about self-harm.

'Emma started cutting herself when she was 15,

'triggered by her dad becoming ill

'and anxiety about her GCSEs.'

I think, at the time, I was so desperate,

just to get the pain out,

that I thought that was a better way of doing it,

which, to be fair, I could have done a lot worse, you know.

I could have killed myself.

'But when it comes to getting the right care,

'she has been repeatedly let down by the NHS.'

How many times have you presented at A&E, having self-harmed?

I would go with about six or seven times.

-And how many of those times have you been psychologically assessed?

-None.

'What do you think's been the most serious incident of self-harm

'that you've gone to A&E about?'

'I cut my foot open'

and had to have ten stitches.

'I think that was the worst one.'

'And when you leave A&E, when you walk out that door,

'are you just left to go home by herself

'and literally carry on as you are?'

'Yeah.'

Every time I've gone, they've patched me up,

sent me out the door, and that's it. Go home.

No referral, no advice on what to do. Just, you know...

There's the door.

'If you get treated like dirt,

'you kind of go from "I'm frustrated",

'to "I'm going to hurt myself",'

to "what is the point?"

You know.

"I should be ashamed of what I've done" and, you know,

"I should probably", you know,

"take myself off this Earth so I'm not so much of a burden on people."

Cos that's what they make you feel like.

They make you feel like you are a burden.

Meeting Emma today has been really inspirational.

I just admire her courage so much.

She's got such a positive spirit,

despite everything that she's been through.

I mean, if that was me,

I don't know if I'd have such determination to carry on.

So many times, she's been let down by A&E,

the people that should be there, supporting her

and, especially, assessing her.

The fact that she's not had one assessment,

despite having self-harmed and presented there so many times,

is just outrageous!

Everyone that's self-harmed needs an assessment when they go to A&E.

It's just not happening.

But problems with treatment in UK emergency departments

don't stop there.

Not being given access to a psychiatrist

or a psychiatric nurse in A&E can be a matter of life or death.

I've travelled to Belfast

to meet a family whose teenage son took his own life

after waiting for more than eight hours for treatment in an A&E unit.

Northern Ireland has a growing problem with suicide.

According to the MP for North Belfast, Nigel Dodds,

the suicide rate has increased 100% in less than 15 years.

That's a huge rise!

Christopher Ferrin, known by his nickname Chricky,

died three years ago when he was just 19.

'His family are still devastated by their loss.'

This is Chricky's final resting place.

One of the hardest gifts to buy your child is a headstone.

It's the final gift.

All I can buy you from now on's a bunch of flowers.

It's...

It's hard.

'Christopher was your normal,'

boisterous, cheeky chappie.

He wasn't an angel, not by anybody's book, but he wasn't the worst kid.

He did have a difficult start in life.

We adopted him when he was three

and we tried to make his life as good as possible.

'Since his death,

'Christopher's bedroom at home has stayed untouched.'

-And this is where you sleep?

-Yep.

This is where I feel closest to Christopher, or Chricky.

This is his room.

These are new trousers he actually bought, just before he died.

I actually keep them there. I still have all his clothes.

-And nothing in this room has changed since?

-Nope. No, nothing at all.

Just as he left it.

'Christopher had problems with drugs and alcohol.

'He also secretly struggled with his mental health.

'His mother Kate only found this out

'after Christopher's GP made an emergency referral

'to an A&E unit in August 2010.'

He was in a terrible state. He told them he was going to self-harm.

He was agitated, he was telling them he needed help

and they kept saying, "There'll be somebody here soon.

"Somebody here soon." And eight-and-a-half hours later,

there were still nobody there to see him.

-So, in all that time, he never had a mental health assessment at A&E?

-No.

He actually... After eight-and-a-half hours, he was so agitated,

he rang from the hospital, crying, and told them...

He says, "If anything happens to me, it's not my fault."

Over the next four days,

Christopher tried to get help from other health services,

but according to his brother Darren

his mental illness just got worse.

I think, if they had given him the help he needed,

it would have been a far different outcome,

it would have been a better outcome,

but they didn't give him the help that he did need.

You just think, "What if this was different?

"Would that have caused a different outcome?"

'Five days after his long wait in A&E,

'Christopher's body was discovered in a Belfast park.'

He was found at two minutes past three,

and it was shortly after that that two policemen came to the door.

Asked me my name, said, "Are you Kate Ferrin?" I says, "Yes."

And all I remember them saying is, "I'm sorry to tell you..."

At which point, I collapsed.

'The health service in Northern Ireland

'refused to comment on Christopher's case,

'but Kate believes it did not do enough to save her son's life.'

They did not help him when he cried for help.

And he begged them to help. And they didn't give him any help whatsoever.

They told him he wasn't a danger to himself.

Well, if that's not a danger to himself, what is?

No family should ever have to go through

what the Ferrins have been through.

Not only did they lose a son, a brother,

but they had to really watch him struggle and suffer.

He never got the help he needed, despite asking for it.

In terms of young people,

on average, four young people under the age of 34 a day

take their lives.

How frustrating is it for you?

That's a particular concern for, you know,

any of us working in the health services,

any of us working with individuals who might be at risk.

And, of course, the particular issue with young people

is the potential years of life that are lost.

So each suicide is an individual tragedy.

But for me, personally, when a young person takes their life,

that really is something

we need to do our very, very best to try and prevent.

'Over 1,600 young people take their own lives every year in the UK

'and the numbers are increasing.

'Christopher's 18-year-old brother Darren

'now wants to learn how to help prevent other young people

'from attempting suicide.'

Is your drive to help other people...

Is that driven by Christopher's death?

Yeah, cos you don't want anyone else to feel what you felt,

cos it is hard. It's...

I don't want anyone else

to go through the pain and go through the suffering.

'So Darren is attending

a hard-hitting charity-run training course called Mind Your Mate.'

Say if you take drugs, or you're taking lots of alcohol, right?

It affects your mental health,

but it also can increase the risk of you ending your own life

by eight times.

'As well as helping young people understand

'why they themselves might become suicidal,

'it also teaches them to recognise mental health problems in friends

'before it's too late.'

Depression is actually a major illness.

And this is where the problem is,

when we say things like, "Are you mental? They're crazy.

"They're wired up."

Someone who's suffering from depression may not ask for help

because they don't want to be labelled.

And what we've got to do, and what we've got to encourage,

is for people to ask for help.

But what you also need is a good mate who can say to you,

"If you want to go and talk to somebody, I'll go with you."

'Sometimes, you can't do it by yourself.'

Most of the times, you can't be by yourself.

You always need someone by your side.

And when you have someone by your side, it makes it a whole lot easier.

'It doesn't even have to be a friend who takes time to listen.

'A passer-by once stopped when I was suicidal and gave me hope.'

That's right. Does she do that?

In the weeks after my awful A&E experience,

I became increasingly psychotic

and ended up in a private psychiatric hospital in London

where I was diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression.

I felt like I wasn't getting any better at the hospital.

And neither, it seemed, were the other patients around me.

I'd no hope. The future just looked really bleak.

I thought the only way out of it was to end my life,

so I managed to escape from the hospital

and I caught a train up to central London.

I was on the edge of killing myself,

but then, something unexpected happened.

A busy London commuter stopped and talk to me.

It was really kind and compassionate.

And because he took the time to stop and talk,

it gave me hope. He didn't judge.

He just seemed to listen and understand

and it actually made me feel like life was maybe worth living again.

I'm now in a much better place,

but through my campaign work,

I've heard from other young people failed by the NHS,

and the problems often start with their GP.

Before I was diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression,

I regularly saw my GP at university.

She was aware of my previous suicidal behaviour

and when I first saw her, I told her all about my mental health problems.

She just advised me to do more exercise and improve my diet.

I remember feeling really disappointed.

It had taken me a lot of courage to go and see her,

but she was the expert, so I didn't question anything she said.

It's not just me who's had a bad experience with their GP.

I've discovered many general practitioners

just don't have the specialist training needed

to treat mental illness.

I'm meeting a 20-year-old student called Nick,

who was badly let down by one GP.

We're just about to meet Nick. I think this is him now.

'He's a huge football fan,

'so we're going to watch his favourite team, Gateshead,

'play Mansfield.'

-Is today going to be a tough match?

-Umm...

Unfortunately, it may well be.

Mansfield are quite a lot...

Doing quite a lot better than Gateshead are

and we're just trying to avoid relegation at this point in time.

'Nick has depression and obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD.

'The condition makes him feel

'he has to repeatedly carry out certain tasks,

'such as washing his hands.'

Well, I guess it all started when I was about 12 years old

and one of my close friends killed herself.

And for the first few months,

I didn't really know how to deal with it.

So life pretty much carried on as usual.

And then slowly, when I started thinking about it more,

and it started affecting me more,

I would sort of start doing things in a certain way,

in a certain manner, to try and use them as coping mechanisms.

So, for example,

I'd start washing my hands a bit more often than I would normally,

I'd shower in a special way.

And if I didn't do it properly, I'd have to start again.

And it got to the point where it was really affecting my quality of life.

'When he was 13, Nick was prescribed 20 milligrams daily

'of the antidepressant Fluoxetine, also known as Prozac.

'It worked, but last year, his symptoms returned,

'so he went to see another GP.'

So I went in to talk to the GP about it

and spoke to him about it for about three minutes,

explained a bit of my background.

I explained that it was getting worse and worse.

And he put me on Fluoxetine, which is the same as Prozac,

and wrote the prescription and sent me on my way and said,

"Come back in a month," basically.

-What dosage of Prozac were you put on?

-It was 60 milligrams of Prozac.

'The prescription was three times his previous daily dose.'

-So did they go through the side effects at all?

-No!

No, I was literally given a prescription

for 60 milligrams of Fluoxetine daily, and that was it.

I wasn't told about any side effects,

I wasn't told about any health risks.

And he just sent me on my way, to be honest.

Hi, can I get a programme, please?

'Not warning Nick about possible side effects

'proved to be a big mistake.'

Ah, the life of a Gateshead fan!

'Within days, he began to feel sick and struggled to get any sleep.

'But far worse was to follow.'

'I remember one time, I'll never forget it.

'I was in the car, driving home,

and I just felt like flooring it and just smashing into a wall.

And I had to stop the car.

It was pouring outside

and I just remember standing outside for about 20 minutes,

curled up into a ball, and it was...

I just couldn't handle it, but I was...

It was shocking when I read the pamphlet later on

and I found out that there was an increased risk of suicidal thoughts,

particularly in young people.

And I hadn't been told about that. And I... For some reason,

I managed to have the self-control, or the luck, to stop the car.

But if I hadn't, not only I would have been hurt, possibly killed,

but I could have hurt other people.

'That was when I really noticed that, hang on,

something's wrong here.

'I need to find out why I'm feeling like this

'and I need to get a second opinion as well.'

'I talked to my local GP at home about it'

and he was absolutely shocked

that I'd been put on that quantity of Fluoxetine

and he went through the side effects with me.

And he just couldn't believe it.

He kept shaking his head and saying,

"This is not what a doctor should be doing."

I should not have been put on that dosage straight away.

'Dr Ranj Singh works in A&E departments

'in specialist children's units,

'where he regularly treats young people with mental health problems.'

We know that with antidepressants in young people,

there are risks involved

and you have to take that into account

and you have to talk about that with your patients.

Difficulty is, when you've got ten minutes

to see and sort and decide on a treatment

and discuss everything with them,

it's an extremely difficult situation,

and I don't think it's good enough.

But sometimes, young people don't recognise

that the problems they have are caused by a mental illness,

so they don't book in to see their GP.

'I've come to Brighton to meet 25-year-old Elliot.

'Like me, he's one of the 6 million people in Britain with depression,

'but it took him two years to decide to go and see a GP.'

Describe to me what the depression's like.

Just feel completely low,

cos you don't feel happy, you don't really feel anything,

don't have any motivation.

But mine, very much, was really frustration with myself

on not being able to do really simple things.

And that makes you feel worse cos of the depression,

so it's a constant... It's a vicious cycle.

It just gets worse and worse and worse and worse.

'At the age of 19, Elliot was in denial about his depression,

'so instead of going to see a GP, he turned to alcohol.'

When I would feel really down,

or I just couldn't feel like this any more,

I would go out with my friends

and drink a hell of a lot

because it would stop the white noise in the back of your head.

It would get... You feel a sense of euphoria and you just feel...

You just feel better. You're not better, in any way.

'When Elliot did go to see a GP

'about his depression and heavy drinking,

'she wanted to prescribe him cognitive behavioural therapy,

'also known as CBT.

'But NHS waiting times proved to be a big barrier.'

The timeframes that it was working, she said,

"It's going to be six months, probably, if we're lucky,

"if we can get you onto it."

And we didn't. And that was horrible.

'Fortunately, a local mental health charity

'gave Elliot the cognitive behavioural therapy he needed.

'The end results were striking.'

I feel great. I feel more in control.

And I can get my life back on track now.

And that's, what, two-and-a-half years

since I first went to try and get help from the NHS.

And I just couldn't get it.

'Elliot's not alone in being frustrated with NHS waiting times

'for talking therapies.'

We know what somebody needs and we're up against a waiting list

and we can only recommend that they go on that waiting list and wait.

Sometimes we can't access services

that we previously used to be able to. And that's because...

Principally, it's because of funding.

'Elliot is now a volunteer

'with the charity who arranged his CBT therapy.

'The Right Here Project is creating a website and smartphone app

'which they hope will help young people with mental health problems

'make the most of their GP appointment.'

Some of the main things we found

were that young people felt intimidated, they felt stereotyped.

Also, another thing we found

is that young people didn't really understand their confidentiality

when they went to a GP, or feel comfortable discussing

maybe, like, issues especially to do with mental health.

'Doc Ready aims to help young people prepare for their GP visit,

'know what to expect, and keep a record of their appointment.'

'Elliot is helping with the design of the app.'

-You know, just here, I don't like the FAQ there.

-OK.

-I really don't!

-What would you prefer?

-I prefer it up here.

-OK. We can change that.

All right.

'I think the app, Doc Ready, looks absolutely fantastic

'and very exciting.'

And it's great to see Elliot so involved in it as well.

Feels like it's given him real purpose.

'Having that kind of safety net, those tools there,

'before going in to a GP consultation...'

I think, from my point of view, would have helped me immensely

when it comes to talking about my mental health.

'Because of the stigma,

'I've only recently started to be open about my mental illness.

'I hid my problems from friends and family right through my teens.'

'When I was 17, I even managed to keep my referral

'to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service a secret.'

'It's better known as CAMHS

'and provides specialist care

'to anyone under the age of 18 with a mental illness.

'My one appointment with them is detailed in my medical notes.'

This seems to be the letter from CAMHS.

And it says, "He described feeling depressed since 2001.

"In the last year, he has had a few incidents

"which he, himself, says is worrying.

"Such as, he lost his entire portfolio of artwork on the train,

"and subsequently felt so bad that he..."

"That he tried to hang himself in the toilet."

"No-one was aware of this incident

"and he managed to keep himself safe until he felt better. Erm..."

"It's incidents like these

"that Jonathan tends to keep ruminating about,

"which only make him feel a lot worse."

I was doing that, and I was at risk to myself. So...

why did it take so long to actually get help?

CAMHS promised me regular appointments.

But then I didn't hear from them for...three months

and by this point I'd just given up hope

and lost faith in the service. And I thought,

"I'm just going to have to manage my mental health on my own."

And so I did.

'Chloe is a 21-year-old law student,

'who, through no fault of her own,

'had to desperately fight for her one appointment

'with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.'

I used to have really rushing thoughts in the middle of the night,

or in the middle of the day,

or I could be doing anything,

and my mind would just be, you know, going at 100 miles an hour.

I honestly thought I was, like, on my own.

It was quite scary and lonely,

but I thought, you know, it was just who I was, just my personality.

She didn't know it at the time,

but she was in fact struggling to cope with being bipolar.

I never heard anyone speak of hearing a voice,

or having these thoughts, or, like, not sleeping.

I had never heard of it before.

It got to a point where I just could no longer hide it,

I could no longer, like, cover it up, but I didn't know what was going on.

So, these guys are paying for the drinks, then?

-LAUGHTER

-Right, OK.

'Chloe decided to see a GP,

'who referred her to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.

'But the appointment was four days after her 18th birthday

'the normal cut-off age for access to CAMHS.'

Tell me about what happened when you went to your CAMHS appointment.

They took all my details. They found my appointment.

But they said, "Oh, but you're 18, and I said,

"Yeah, I turned 18 four days ago."

"Oh, well, we can't see you then, unless it's really urgent,

"we can't see you, you're no longer classed in the child category."

And I said, "Yeah, but you gave me that appointment

"knowing my date of birth and everything. That's your mistake."

"It's not my mistake."

I literally said to her, "Well, what have I said, to you?

"That I'm this close to walking out into the road in front of a car."

I said, "Would that make any difference?"

"Yeah, yeah, you'll be seen as urgent then."

I said, "You are saying that

"unless things are that bad that I want to kill myself,

"I can't see anyone."

You know, that's awful, you know?

My life was, like, falling apart and I just thought, I can't cope.

I just can't cope. And I had to beg and fight for this appointment.

Having to fight so hard for treatment

has damaged Chloe's faith in the NHS.

I just don't trust them.

I don't trust anything they put forward, I just don't trust it.

I'm the one that's kept myself going, all this time.

And I continue to do so. It's difficult.

Don't get me wrong, it's hard, it can be lonely, it can be scary,

I definitely think this is how I'm going to have to deal with it.

To Chloe.

ALL: To Chloe!

Cheers!

'I've also found out there is poor communication

'between the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service

'and the Adult Mental Health Service,

'which means, when young people reach the age of 18,

'they are often cut off from receiving any help at all.'

'Kimberley is 21 years old and works in insurance.

'She lives in Norwich and is getting married in November.'

Are we... Well, not WE, you're going to try some dresses on!

I'm not going to try them on.

You can if you want!

I'm actually quite tempted, because they're really nice.

I'll just bring out this one.

LAUGHTER

-Yeah, I'll try it on, Yeah?

-Why not?

-OK.

'The build-up to her wedding is difficult

'because Kimberley suffers from severe anxiety and depression.'

I have very down days, to the point where

I don't want to get out of bed in the morning.

My anxiety in particular is a big factor of my life.

The depression side of things, I get really, really low,

to the point where it feels like there's a physical dark cloud over me

and there's nothing I can do to get rid of it.

'When she was 14,

'Kimberley was referred to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service

'and over the next three years, she had regular therapy sessions.

'But, as her 18th birthday approached,

'her appointments began to be cancelled.'

The sessions just came to a halt

and that was kind of it, really.

I didn't really hear too much else from them.

And just, a line got drawn under it, and that was that.

Were you aware that you were going to be cut off?

It kind of made me a bit angry,

but I thought, perhaps I don't need it, perhaps I don't need that help,

perhaps that's it, I'm not going to feel like this ever again

and now I'm 18, I'm an adult,

like the world's my oyster, I'll do what I want.

And I just thought that I had no limitations, in a way,

and I thought, well, if the doctor doesn't want to see me,

there's obviously nothing wrong.

-Wow!

-I like this one.

SHE LAUGHS

-I like that one! Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-It's lovely.

'Kimberley wasn't even told

'an adult mental health service existed.

'She fell into the gap

'between the child and adult mental health services.

'And with no support, Kimberley began to suffer increased anxiety

'and more panic attacks.'

I thought, I've got myself into this position,

why can I not just get on, like any other normal 18, 19-year-old?

Looking back at it now, I do blame them, to a degree,

for my mental health deteriorating afterwards,

to a point where I wanted to hurt myself.

'I have self-harmed.

'I did, when I felt really low,

'and I didn't see any point in anything. And I do blame'

the child and adolescent service for that, to a degree, definitely.

'It's left husband-to-be James

'angered by the lack of support from the NHS.'

If someone has anxiety,

they're not as confident in speaking up and saying,

"Well, I don't agree with that."

And, you know, a family member or friend

or boyfriend at the time, you know,

can't say to a doctor, "I think you should be doing this."

They won't talk to me. They won't talk to Kim's mum, whoever.

It would have to come from her, that she wasn't happy about it.

You know, if someone's already got that anxiety,

it's difficult for them to do that. So I was always sort of saying,

you need to go back and ask and find out.

And it was difficult for her,

and completely understandable that it was.

Oh, it's so pretty.

I love the colour as well.

This is kind of like the colours we'd want.

'I just got completely let down.

'I was approaching 18, and they just cut me off.

'It's awful, and to think that'

it could happen to someone else,

that really saddens me, definitely.

'I found out that up to a third of teenagers

'are also being abandoned by CAMHS

'when they approach adulthood.'

When people are transitioned from CAMHS to adult services,

that transition should be integrated, it should be graded,

it should be based on an introduction

and a step-by-step process.

It should involve the young person,

in terms of negotiating and planning their care.

That's the best way to do it.

Unfortunately, that doesn't happen that way, in many instances.

There was a study in London that was done

and only 4% of young people experienced "a good transition".

Only 4%. I think that's a shocking figure.

I like the back as well. It's got, like, an open back.

'With two thirds of CAMHS budgets in England having been cut since 2010,

'more young people like Kimberley

'could end up falling through the mental health gap.'

I'm heading to the Lake District in Cumbria

with some of the people I've met making this documentary,

who, like me, feel they've not been given the therapy they wanted

on the NHS.

With written permission from each of our GPs,

we'll be attending a mindfulness course,

a new form of therapy which has been approved for use by the NHS

to treat depression and anxiety, but is very rarely prescribed.

I'm really intrigued.

I've never actually done anything like this before.

I'm quite excited about it

and I'm kind of hoping that something really good comes out of it.

It'd be nice to actually have those 20 minutes of relaxation

before bedtime, just so I can actually sleep

and just to understand the way my mind works a bit better.

I'm hoping that mindfulness will just give me a chance

to shut my thoughts for a little bit, clear my head,

and just give me a little bit of sense of inner peace.

Supporters of mindfulness

say it can benefit those with mental health problems,

so it'll be interesting to find out if any of us find it useful.

Oh, wow, look at this.

Amazing. How are you guys all feeling?

-Really excited now.

-Looking forward to it, yeah.

Right, guys, shall we go and check in? Cool.

Mindfulness teacher Karen Todd, from Manchester,

is running this weekend's course.

Mindfulness is all about breathing techniques,

body-awareness meditations, all sort of different things

that you can apply to your life straightaway.

One of the best things about mindfulness, of course,

is that it's a free service,

so hopefully there are financial benefits for the NHS as well,

in that, once people have learned the techniques,

they can self-help themselves using those techniques.

There's one person I still want to see

who couldn't attend this weekend's mindfulness course.

So, today I'm off to meet someone called Rachel.

Rachel suffers from anorexia.

Anorexia actually has the highest mortality rate

of all the psychiatric disorders.

So it's vital that treatment is really effective.

A recent report by the Royal College Of Psychiatrists

says the UK is not doing enough

to help people like Rachel who have eating disorders.

-Hiya. Are you Rachel?

-Hi, yeah.

Hi, I'm Jonny. How you doing?

-Hi, Jonny, nice to meet you.

-You all right?

-I'm fine, thanks.

'Rachel is 27 years old and lives on a farm in York.'

These are some of the calves on the farm.

These are a couple of months old.

They are absolutely adorable, very noisy.

It's lovely if you love animals.

I certainly wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

It's absolutely ideal for me, definitely.

'She's been anorexic since she was 10 years old,

'and over the last 17 years.

'her body has become permanently damaged..

I've now developed an awful lot of medical problems,

such as osteoporosis,

and I can't have children,

and I have palpitations, I have problems with my bloods at times,

things like that.

So now my whole life has completely changed.

'Rachel is one of 1.6 million people in the UK

'who have an eating disorder.

'She has now become addicted to exercise.'

So, on a typical day, how much exercise would you do?

I do about three hours' worth of exercise a day.

About two hours on this,

and then another hour of sit-ups.

If I don't exercise, it means I don't want to eat

because it feels like I'm just going to get fat again.

Over the past decade, Rachel has been in and out of hospital,

but feels her treatment has always focused on weight gain

rather than addressing her mental health.

I've been to about seven specialised clinics and general hospital

over the years.

At one point it was about...

I was literally coming out of hospital,

have maybe about four weeks home, and go back into a different one.

In my head, all I wanted to do was eat and get out.

It wasn't about recovering, it wasn't about fixing things.

So, at the point of being admitted,

-you were promised you would have therapy?

-Definitely.

They said they would give me help with anxiety,

they'd give me help with eating, they'd give me psychological help.

Within the period of three months,

I didn't get any help whatsoever.

I felt almost like I was a problem to them,

they were trying to get rid of me.

'Ill health means Rachel spends a lot of time at home

'helping run her mum's dog breeding business.'

Oh, they're so cute!

These are my passion. They give me distraction.

-It gives me something to do.

-Hello!

But she feels that with the right treatment from the health service,

life could be so much better.

My version of recovery is getting by your day

just without thinking about food,

or just not feeling so awful about myself all the time.

My version of recovery isn't being a BMI over 20.

My version of recovery is just to be happy again.

According to Dr Ranj Singh,

the problem behind Rachel's poor care is simple - not enough money.

Spending on mental health has fallen for the second year in a row.

The tricky part of it is that everything requires funds.

Everything requires it,

and if mental health as a whole isn't funded adequately,

all the services underneath the umbrella suffer.

There are cuts happening everywhere,

and because of that services are being changed,

and thresholds are being changed, and referral criteria are changing.

The people that suffer because of that

are the patients that need the greatest care.

'Back in the Lake District, we're learning mindfulness techniques

'which may help us with our mental health.

'The body scan is a form of meditation that can lower stress.'

If you just take your awareness now to the top of your head

and just notice what sensations are present there for you.

'Chloe, who has bipolar, doesn't find the body scan helpful.'

'I've had sort of mixed emotions about today.'

The body scan was the thing that I think

I really didn't engage with at all.

My mind was wandering and I just couldn't bring it back.

I couldn't get into that zone that I think you need to be in.

'But the exercises had a powerful impact on both Nick and Emma.'

'To have 15 minutes where I wasn't thinking about any of my rituals,

'I wasn't concerned about'

my mind going on and on and on at 100 miles an hour,

it was really emotional for me afterwards.

I very nearly did have a little cry to myself,

just because it was that unreal, to have that kind of relief,

that kind of relaxation that I didn't think was possible.

It was really, really nice to sort of be able to relax

and not have to rely on some kind of prescription tablet

to do it for me.

During a break from the course,

I want to find out

what everyone has made of their experience with the NHS.

They have to remember that these are children, young people,

that have... And it is scary, it really is scary.

When you're young, you're not only going through puberty,

your hormones are everywhere, but no-one believes you. No-one.

Because you're like this, and everyone just says,

"That's a teenage phase, you'll go through it."

I spent the last three years trying to get myself back to a point

where I can be even remotely like who I was.

I don't know about you guys,

-but I'm proud to say that I've done it on my own.

-Yeah, definitely.

If I'd have waited on them,

I'd have been a goner a long time ago.

As a result of her own experience,

Kimberly is now reaching out to other teenagers

who might be suffering the way she did.

Like me, she's blogging about her mental illness.

Using things like social media,

you realise the scale of how many people are affected.

I've talked to people

who are in worse situations than me when I was 14

and it's really sad to hear that that support wasn't there.

I know that other people have enjoyed reading it,

so hopefully it helps in making people realise they're not alone

and that they're feeling the same things as what I am.

I'd really like to try to make, even if it's a small difference,

that's what I'd like to do.

Someone else taking direct action is Rachel.

She's on a mission to set up support for local eating disorder patients

coming out of NHS hospitals.

I've actually had three... Well, four friends die.

Three because they haven't had adequate help with leaving hospital.

They've gone from a unit,

been discharged home,

lost the weight and died at home.

Today, she's going to find out

if she can win official backing for her own charity.

I've found that when I've told a lot of professionals

about me wanting to do this,

I've been told not to get involved in anything with eating disorders,

that I should disassociate myself with the whole cause.

That made me more determined.

The local Council For Voluntary Service, or CVS,

has the power to either make or break her dream.

It's a body that helps start-ups

and supports voluntary organisations.

I'd like to be able to offer a confidential helpline

providing both advice and support.

I'd like to offer a range of groups that sufferers can access,

such as body image classes, nutrition advice and support,

cookery classes, relaxation, things like that.

'If Gary and Natasha are convinced Rachel is on to something,

'they will be able to provide financial support and guidance

'to get her charity of the ground.'

If you could start tomorrow, what's the thing you'd start doing?

I suppose the helpline, I think.

I looked into getting a separate landline,

and that was about £100 or something like that.

-To get it installed?

-Yeah.

When it comes to it,

is this going to be you spending most of your time on this?

It would be basically split between me and my mum, she's my carer.

If you were to help more people through this service,

the less readmissions there are into the system.

By the end of the meeting, Rachel proves she has an impressive idea.

We'll do you a bit of, like, an action plan

of things that we think are, like, the next step.

That's fantastic. Thank you very much.

The one thing that you need to make things happen

is drive and enthusiasm,

-and you seem to have plenty of that.

-Definitely.

'Receiving backing from those who can make her dream become reality

'is a huge boost to her confidence.'

'It's really pleased me that they both seem to be very interested'

in the project,

and they think that it is something that is needed out there.

I'm really happy.

I've travelled the country,

meeting people with a shared anger

towards their mental health treatment from the NHS.

I've talked to Chloe and Kimberly about the failures

in the Child And Adolescent Mental Health Service...

Nick, let down by his former GP...

Elliott and Rachel,

frustrated by lack of access to therapy...

and Christopher and Emma, who were failed by A&E.

I've now come to central government

to put their concerns to the man in charge of mental health,

the new Care Minister, Norman Lamb.

NICE guidelines do say that when someone turns up at A&E

and they've self-harmed or attempted suicide,

they should be given a psychosocial assessment.

Yet this is only happening to half of all cases.

Many A&E departments,

there's no real access to psychiatric support.

I've had a case in my own constituency very recently

of a mother who's lost her son, aged 27, to suicide.

He turned up at A&E with ligature marks on his neck,

was discharged with some advice,

and took his own life the next day.

A complete failure of the system.

Do you feel GPs are sufficiently trained in mental health,

-particularly when it comes to young people?

-No.

It's a very patchy picture around the country.

There are some brilliant GPs who get mental health,

who've chosen to do the extra training,

and therefore their patients get a great service.

But in too many areas, there's an insufficient understanding.

One of the things the Royal College Of GPs has argued for

is an extra year of training for GPs,

which would include a mental health element,

a significant mental health element.

I'm very positive about that

and very keen that we actually get to the point

where we can implement it,

because I think it would make a real difference.

Moving on to the area of CAMHS,

in some parts of the country,

the transition from CAMHS

to the Adult Mental Health Service is quite poor.

Why does this failure of communication

between the two services exist?

It is completely unacceptable,

and I want to look at how we can achieve a much more seamless service

or transition for people.

But there is no excuse for services coming to an end

and people being left high and dry,

as I understand is the experience far too often.

I've met and filmed with six young people,

and the family of a seventh who took his life,

that all feel severely failed by the mental health service.

These are not isolated cases.

What is your message to them

about the state of the mental health service?

My message to them is that I agree with them on their frustration,

their irritation, and I'm sure their anger, at the failure of the system.

I'd like to meet with them,

if they're up for it,

because I share their determination to change things.

'The Care Minister believes the way to solve the problem

'is to give equal status to mental and physical illness,

'which he's just done through the new Health And Social Care Act.

'But I'm worried that without financial backing,

'things will never change.'

Spending on mental health

-has decreased for the second year in a row.

-Yeah.

But you say it's a priority.

That, in a way, demonstrates my point. There is this bias.

That's why I am keen to get a greater equilibrium in the system,

so that people with mental health problems

get the same rights, and that will force commissioners to think,

"Well, we've got to spend money on that as well."

But we've now got to hold the system to account.

We've set the priority,

now the system has to deliver that.

Sounds good.

But will it really result in more spending on mental health?

I just hope Norman Lamb sees these commitments through

to avoid future failures for young people with mental illness.

We're approaching the end of our mindfulness course,

a form of therapy which is approved for use by the NHS

but is rarely prescribed.

This is called the mountain meditation.

This is a pure relaxation meditation.

'This simple exercise provides Kimberly with a breakthrough moment

'in coping with her severe anxiety.'

That worked wonders for me. I absolutely loved that.

It was really nice to feel my heart rate actually lower

and I'm not like "Huh," all the time.

-Yeah.

-It was amazing.

I feel really good.

-I know that sounds really daft, but I feel really good!

-It really does.

It is finally like I can see myself

being able to do that every single day.

'It's a great end to what has been

'a really positive experience for me.'

Quite sad to be leaving, to be honest.

Feel I've gained a lot myself in the last few days.

Definitely going to miss

not just the mindfulness but everyone here.

It feels like I've gained some really good friends.

I will never be rid of my mental illness,

but I have learned to manage it

through cognitive behavioural techniques and mindfulness.

I'm determined to continue to help others with my online videos,

which are now watched by people from all over the world.

It's been quite inspirational, actually, meeting all of you,

individually, and coming here together,

and I think it's a real privilege as well for me

to have got to know all of you.

I'm going to miss you all. Thank you.

Hugs!

-Group hug.

-Group hugs, group hugs.

Let's hope the new Health And Social Care Act

results in more being spent on mental illness

by the newly formed NHS commissioning bodies.

But young people like us

will have to see a real change in our treatment

to know the new act is working

and that we are finally getting the mental health care we all deserve.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd