A Letter to My Son

<p><span style=color: rgb(0 0 0);>This book describes how the mental health system could not keep our son alive after his ten-year struggle with schizophrenia despite the best efforts of countless caring professionals.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgb(0 0 0);>It recognises the most significant underlying issue being the need for mental health to receive a greater proportion of spending - an important message for politicians. And it identifies from a parent's perspective key areas for improvement even within the current system which should be of interest to mental health professionals.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgb(0 0 0);>Although there is no 'happy ending' there may still be some insights to help parents identify possible early signals of mental health issues in their children and how to act - quickly.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgb(0 0 0);>This book documents our family's experience in supporting our son through a 10-year struggle with paranoid schizophrenia.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgb(0 0 0);>It explains how difficult it is in the early stages of recognising that an illness is developing and knowing what to do about it - and that this is compounded by the fact that the sufferer often does not want to admit to the illness even to themself; also how with a young adult data protection law can significantly restrict parental influence on intervening; and how the involvement of the significant carer in the sectioning process under the mental health acts can introduce conflict between parent and child.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgb(0 0 0);>It highlights some weaknesses in how our mental health system seeks to provide a community care route to recovery - too little supported housing excessively high caseloads for staff lack of 24/7 cover ineffective co-ordination and continuity across agencies to address the individual's needs and reliance on the police sometimes as the last resort.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgb(0 0 0);>It provides much evidence of the impact of under-investment in mental health when compared with physical health even though the two are so inter-dependent; also demonstrates that the mechanisms for agreeing funding for different intervention options can lead to less than optimum outcomes - both in clinical and financial terms.</span></p>