For Mental Health Awareness Week 2025 (12th-18th May), two of our Advocacy Leads – Kerry and Tajinder – have written about how some people accessing our services experience barriers to accessing services in their communities. They explore how those barriers can impact on our clients’ mental health.
In our Community Advocacy service, we come across people whose mental wellbeing has been impacted by lack of services, or services tightening their remit. This can include both adult and children’s social care, housing, legal support and mental health services.
Though the issues that people may need advocacy support for have no direct relation to mental health, mental health and wellbeing plays a role in the person’s ability to cope with said issues when it is left unaddressed or without support.
Examples include a client whose child does not get the additional support they require and the impact this has on them as the carer, or a client not having legal support to challenge decisions regarding their children going into care.
For some people, there may be a service that can provide support. However, these have reduced as the remits of services have been tightened due to cuts. This can result in us being their last opportunity to get support to deal with an issue that is causing them mental ill health.
Accessing services
Regarding access to mental health services, there have been clients who have struggled to get support from the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) or have had negative experiences with Crisis. This can result in people’s wellbeing getting worse, varying from people isolating within themselves, to engaging in risky or life-threatening behaviour.
We provide advocacy support where we can. However, we are limited in what we can do when a person’s main focus is not mental wellbeing, but the initial problem they are facing in housing, social services, policing or other services.
Independent Mental Health Advocacy
Our mental health advocacy services within hospitals have also observed significant gaps in service provision, particularly in the support available upon discharge. Insufficient and inadequate care has left vulnerable individuals at breaking point, exacerbating their struggles rather than alleviating them.
Disturbingly, we have received reports that four former clients/patients tragically lost their lives due to a lack of community support following hospital discharge.
This underscores the urgent need to allocate sufficient resources to ensure successful transitions from inpatient care to community support. Strengthening these services is critical not only to safeguarding individuals’ mental health but also to maintaining trust in professionals and the wider mental health system.
Immediate attention and action are required to bridge these gaps and prevent further harm. Investing in comprehensive discharge planning and accessible community mental health support is not just beneficial – it is essential.
