Sectioned children face more trauma in the institutions supposed to protect them | Letter

"As a parent of a child who has also suffered with an eating disorder, I recall the same feelings of horror at the loss of control while we saw our daughter sectioned three times under the Mental Health Act. Our daughter ended up in locked institutions for 15 months, where self-harm, suicide attempts and attempts at absconding were the norm. She was the same age as Ruth when sectioned, far away from home, and without access to therapeutic support because she was deemed too ill."

"We were isolated as parents, with no support, and spent our time writing letters and making phone calls within a labyrinthine system designed to obfuscate. Through our persistence, we eventually got access to a six-week family support group outside our own health authority area, because nothing existed locally. The simple act of speaking with other parents proved so valuable. The lack of such support made a mockery of the theory that families are at the heart of the treatment."

A parent describes the trauma of a fourteen-year-old child being sectioned three times under the Mental Health Act and confined in locked institutions for fifteen months. The child experienced self-harm, suicide attempts, and absconding, and was denied therapeutic support for being deemed too ill. Parents were isolated, unsupported, and forced to navigate a labyrinthine system of letters and phone calls. Persistence gained access to a distant six-week family support group, where peer contact proved invaluable. The daughter now receives private therapy for institutional trauma, and the family continues to live with guilt over rapid loss of choice.

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