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https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/mark-rowley-suella-braverman-met-metropolitan-police-england-b1038772.html Sir Mark Rowley said he plans to begin “pushing back” on dealing with non-police issues such as mental health callouts.

‘If you show out you're seen as weak' Attitudes towards mental health may have “dramatically” shifted over the last three decades within the Met, but in practice, austerity measures mean officers are more likely to burn out than ever before, the federation’s diversity lead told politicians yesterday. “We are, I hate to say this, paying lip service to our officers”, Metropolitan Police Federation Diversity Secretary Anne Shuttleworth told the London Assembly Police and Crime Panel on Tuesday. Although representatives from the NHS, mental health charity Mind and an MP made a Lord for his work on social inequality praised the progress of the MPS on its approach to mental health incidents, the Fed is concerned this is not translating to better welfare for its officers. Ms Shuttleworth, who is nearing the end of her service said one phrase going unmentioned in the force is “burn out”. “Culturally we have moved on. I think our younger officers have a better understanding of mental health issues. “Attitudes have shifted massively. “But I think officers very often make mistakes - small things go wrong because they get to a point where they are overwhelmed with the volume of work that is coming in. “They just seem to rush from call to call to call to call and they’re expected to give this gold star service every single time. “And that’s fine for a while.” She told how working as a Sexual Offences Investigation Trained Officer at the start of her career had left her so drained she could no longer “emphasise and sympathise naturally as a human being”. But her experience compares favourably with that of probationers in 2018, she said. At the time the Met allowed her to rotate with other officers so she could refresh herself but this is no longer possible for most officers, she said. “Now because of the position we’re in because of resources, officer numbers, volume of calls and the complexity of what we deal with, we do not very often take into account that we’re burning officers out.” She said the BCU model had created issues she is “not at liberty” to discuss which has “put more pressure on people because they’re being expected to move and to take on more work and to take on greater responsibility.” The decision to outsource the MPS counselling services is also taking its toll upon officers she said. The counselling service doesn’t work like it used to, she said “in respect that it [doesn’t] understand that we’re a 24/7 service. “It tells us when we’re going to go to it and how it’s going to be from its perspective and if we miss any of the appointments we don’t get them back. “So where an officer might need ten counselling sessions, they’re not likely to get them because shift work will prevent that. “Since we’ve outsourced a lot of our resources I’m afraid I’ve got concerns because yes we do try to look after our officers’ mental health but there is still a stigma for some of us. “If you actually show out you’re seen as weak. “Culturally it’s always going to be under the surface. “It’s the sort of job where you work with a team of people and you don’t want to let your colleagues down and if you show out and say 'I can’t do this anymore' you feel you’re letting your peers down. “I can only speak from experience and I’m finding it always ends up being too late by the time an officer would come to me.” Chairman of Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust Andy Trotter spoke of a “transformation” in the police service towards mental health incidents. “There’s a real willingness to work together, I’m very impressed with at the moment,” he said. Head of policy at Mind Vicki Nash said she was well aware the police were trying to “plug the gap where other services are failing to meet demand” and Lord Victor Adebowale CBE said he has “a lot of sympathy with the police because they were faced with extremely stressful situations but weren’t being briefed or getting the support they needed”. But he added: “I would like a clearer public acknowledgement of the police’s responsibilities with regard to mental health. “They do have responsibility under Section 2 of the Human Rights Act. I can’t sit here in all honestly and say I’m really pleased, everything’s fine because it isn’t.” Ms Shuttleworth said clarity is needed on the role of the policing service within mental health. “We should have not have people who are mentally ill in cells at all. “We are not employed to diagnose. It is not our role. “How well do you want us trained? Do you want us to be the equivalent of psychiatric nurses and doctors? “People have got to decide where that limit finishes.” She added: “Sometimes it can take a whole shift - waiting with patients. Dealing with people with mental health issues is not a five minute job. “My colleagues in the main are really good people and they get really frustrated when they get constant calls. It is very draining.” View on Police Oracle

Overstretched officers are having to act as a last line of defence Is it time to say enough is enough? https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/29/police-force-cuts-mental-health An interesting point here: “Now consider the people we cannot identify and quantify – the callers who couldn’t get through because the police were busy dealing with those 8,655 calls. What if they too were vulnerable, and some almost certainly were? What if they came to significant harm or even died – and they may have? Where was our duty of care to them?”

Ex-sergeant's poignant talk about his battle with PTSD, depression and his call for better treatment after being let down by his force. Former Sergeant Ed Simpson admits he still takes medication to manage his condition and will continue to fight for change Date - 27th September 2018 By - Sophie Garrod - Police Oracle 3 Comments How are officers expected to deal with members of the public suffering from mental health problems if they are unwell themselves, a medically retired sergeant asked. Ed Simpson of North Yorkshire Police began his policing career in 1993 in Bradford, which eventually took its toll on him, leaving him broken. The 42-year-old husband and father-of-two told this week's Mental Health and Policing Conference: “When you join the police, somewhere in training school when you put your uniform on, there’s an invisible shield that gets placed over the top of you, and that shield protects you. It protects you from all the absolute c*ap you’ve got to deal with day in, day out, day in, day out, day in, day out – I could go on and on, we all know what I’m talking about.” In 2001, Mr Simpson had to attend a murder scene involving a 14-year-old girl who was raped and bludgeoned to death in an alleyway. He stood over her body for eight hours with a sergeant passing a Mars Bar over the fence to him to keep his energy levels up. “I went home and never thought about it again, because my shield had protected me. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel sorry for what happened, but I was a police officer, I’m not meant to feel anything…. “But one day, that shield - it had been battered - cracked and it wasn’t in the greatest shape anymore.” A family of a boy who was involved in a fatal collision was taken to a mortuary by Mr Simpson, who was a family liaison officer at the time. The teenager had just passed his driving test, clipped a curb, the car span out of control and hit a tree. He died instantly. “I had done this lots of times, it was just another deployment to show a family someone who had died – it’s not easy, but I’m a police officer, and a police officer deals with this all the time and it’s not going to affect me. “But I walked into that room where his body was, and it was the mother. The mother screamed and that scream will probably haunt me for the rest of my life, because that scream hit me so hard, my shield disintegrated. “For the first time ever in police uniform, I cried. “The mother was trying to get him off the bed, trying to open his eyes and shouting at him ‘why are you so cold’. “I was stood there thinking ‘why am I crying, why am I crying?’ – It was the most horrendous and horrific thing I had ever experienced. It wasn’t gory, it wasn’t a bomb going off in my face, it was just a mother’s grief.” Struggling to comprehend why the incident had impacted him so much, Mr Simpson began to feel guilty of his reaction as he thought he was not strong enough for the family. Two years after the incident, which he eventually pushed to the back of his mind, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant and worked in Selby, North Yorkshire. However, he still did not feel on top of the pressures of juggling being a new dad and work. Mr Simpson opted for a custody sergeant role to be closer to his home as his wife was expecting another child, but soon realised it was the worst place he could have chosen to work. With 24 cells and a team where the chief thought one sergeant was sufficient. “Me being me, I just wanted to try and help everybody and that started to chip away at me. “I started to hate my job and I didn’t want to be there. I remember sitting down getting ready for my 12-hour shift getting barraged with people in an out, constant questions and buzzers going off, looking at the clock and thinking ‘I can’t do a 12-hour shift – but I can do an hour shift 12 times'. “At no point did I think that’s not normal, you should get some help. No, I was just struggling, I wasn’t as good as I used to be – I wasn’t the strong cop I used to be therefore I needed to break up my shifts into hour-long blocks. “Then I would get into the car and on the way home stop at the petrol station to get four cans of lager and drink them all 'till I’m drunk before going to bed having not said anything to my wife or my daughter because I needed to concentrate on work. “At work I was responsible for everybody and everything. My only role at work in my head was ‘don’t make any mistakes and don’t let anyone die,’ that was it.” Mr Simpson started to develop OCD in which he would feel compelled at the end of each shift to quadruple check every single log on the system to make sure it was correct as he was convinced he had made a mistake and as a result, a person would die. Plucking up the courage, he went to see his GP, where the scream of the mother again hit home and he saw the entire scene flash before him. “I completely broke down, I had not cried since that incident – so four years later and everything I had just pushed down exploded.” Mr Simpson left the room diagnosed with PTSD and depression, but his poor mental state meant he could not comprehend this. He went on: “I didn’t see it coming and I didn’t believe it, I just thought the doctor had misdiagnosed me, and she was misdiagnosing weakness and a rubbish cop and a rubbish dad and a rubbish father and labelling it as depression and PTSD.” Returning to work and in denial, Mr Simpson contemplated crashing his car on the way to his shift to end it all, but thankfully, made it in that morning. But he could not remember his password or even how to get the computer monitor to switch on. The nurse noticed his mind had gone blank and he was signed off sick, but found himself feeling lonelier and more worthless than ever with no-one in the force checking in on him - which he described as "appalling". “It was hard because I was on my own. One sensation I remember feeling all the time was loneliness. “The problem is no-one spoke about it, so the only people who knew I was off sick was four detention officers and my line manager. I wasn’t shot, stabbed or beaten up so it wasn’t a big news story - so I spent six months at home just contacting my line manager once a month. “I decided I was worthless because no one had rung me or come to see me. “The force was appalling and know it because I’ve told them.” He was eventually refereed to mental health services by his GP six months later, but it took 19 months before he even got to see anyone, which he describes as “far too late”. By this stage his mind had taken over. However, an eye-opening moment came when he returned to work, opened up to colleagues and realised he was not the only one. “When I joined the police I was given body armour, asp, cuffs and all these kinds of things and training on how to defend myself and stop myself from being physically attacked," he said. "But at no point did anyone say to me ‘by the way, this job will bend you out of shape, and you may end up not being a very well person because of it’, no one said that to me. Yet thousands of pounds are spend on physical protection. "This is where the police culture has to change. We see mental health as a weakness. “I wasn’t weak, I was strong. I was far too bloody strong for far too bloody long. But the snaggle is we don’t talk about it, and the silence is killing people. “Last year 25 officers in England and Wales committed suicide and the year I thought about taking my own life there were 29 - to think I may have been 30… “That’s not just 29 cops, that’s 29 husbands, fathers, people that we’ve lost in the service. Yet still I am there talking about it and I have never heard anyone else mention it before. It’s a scandal. “Forces, chief constables and senior officers need to realise that all the plans in the world, all the strategies and polices around how are we going to deal with people, burglaries, murders and people with mental health problems, all these are not going to work if the people you are asking to implement those are unwell themselves. “We need to look after the people who are looking after others – I don’t think that’s rocket science. “If we can’t see mental health problems in our own staff, then how are they going to identify them in the public? “We need to take the blinkers off and look at each other and for God’s sake look after each other, because 25 police officers took their lives last year, I’m not alright with that, it frustrates me. “It’s a job I miss every day, but I couldn’t do it anymore. I’m just so destroyed. “I’m not a cop anymore, but you are still my colleagues and I’ll always care about you, I will keep banging the drum to make sure you are looked after so you can go out there and do the same for the public.” View On Police Oracle

POLICE officers and staff "failed in their duties and responsibilities" after a vulnerable woman was found dead almost 17 hours after her social worker raised concerns about her. https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/16960773.police-found-woman-dead-17-hours-after-999-call/ Is A&E the best place for someone who has had a major depressive disorder? Is it right to expect someone to make their own way - should an ambulance have been called or at least a friend or family member? Who investigates social services?

So, The THE POLICING AND CRIME Act is coming in December 2017 and will change the powers and procedures of the 136 & 135 mental health act significantly. Just wondering if your force is aware and has done anything about it? Ours has been working hard, but not really got anywhere. https://mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com covers all the changes pretty well. Key points - you can 136 in private and have a power of entry. (not dwelling) No children to police station under 136, ever. Not for any reason. Only 24h for assessment, rather than 72. Important - 24h begins when you arrive at the first place of safety. Even if they won't accept.(popping to ane for a few stitches? 24h just started!) To get a 136 into custody there needs an inspectors authority and constant or every 30 mins check by medical professional. And only if there is a fundamental threat to life by the person at that time. (so never going to happen) And you need to call a medical professional before 136 if possible. So the government are trying to get the NHS to take some MH slack. But we are still left holding the baby until they accept it.

On the 11th December, new regulations come into force dictating when we can use police stations as a place of safety for people arrested under S136 - basically, it'll be almost never. These regulations were inserted into the MHA by the Policing and Crime Act, and so are part of the law. Here's a brief summary of the requirements for people who may only occasionally come across the power: * A child under 18 years may never be taken to a police station as a place of safety, under any circumstances. * An adult (A) may only be taken to a police station if the decision-maker (i.e. the constable exercising the power under most circumstances) is satisfied that the behaviour of A poses an imminent risk of serious injury or death to A or any other person, and because of that risk no place of safety anywhere in the force could reasonable be expected to detain A, and the requirements of regulation 4(1) can be met. * Regulation 4(1) requires that the custody officer ensure a healthcare professional check A's wellbeing at least every thirty minutes without fail. As far as reasonably possible a healthcare professional should be present and available throughout the period of detention. * If the decision-maker is not an inspector, then an inspector must authorise that A may be removed to, kept at or taken to a police station as a place of safety. * The custody officer must review detention hourly, and if the risk mentioned above no longer exists or the healthcare checks cannot be provided then A must be transferred to another place of safety. So this means in practice police stations will very rarely be used, in any capacity. Note that although the regulations make reference to custody officers it will also apply to sitting someone in the front office, that is not a way around the rules. Only the largest of custody suites will have a permanent HCP presence, and even then may not be able to guarantee 30-minute medical checks - smaller ones have little or no chance. Given the wide definition of a place of safety, it will likely include all the local MH hospitals even if they aren't designated as such by the NHS under S140 MHA - many of them will have seclusion facilities capable of managing violent patients and so it would have to be established why these couldn't be used even if someone was too violent for the S136 suite. Mental Health Cop discusses it in more detail, with his opinion about what he'd consider as an inspector asked to authorise detention at a police station. The Regulations themselves can be found here.

A CSO's account of his struggle with PTSD highlights the trauma police officers face in their daily duties. World Mental Health Day A Community Support Officer has described his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder as part of a day of action to raise awareness about mental health issues. On World Mental Health Day (October 11) the Gwent CSO wrote anonymously about how the graphic aftermath of a gas explosion in Newport haunted him for years. The CSO was among the first emergency responders on scene after hearing the explosion from Newport Central Police Station. “The give-away was a large hole where the front window used to be and the burning debris strewn across Bridge Street. “Immediately the smell of gas filled my lungs and the sight of a male stood in the debris with his clothes and chunks of skin missing filled my mind. Suddenly I was climbing in through the hole, over the gas pipe and pulling this stranger to the site of the former window. Then along with a colleague we pulled him out and into an ambulance. It was probably less than a minute but would affect me for what is looking like years.” Although it took several months for his problems to start, the CSO was plunged into a downward spiral that almost wrecked his personal and professional life. “I think the biggest issue for me became the words that every Community Support Officer hears almost daily ‘You’re only a CSO.’ It doesn’t bother me when the public say this but it definitely had an effect when it was my own mind. My mind was telling me CSO’s don’t have issues like this. You don’t go to incidents that could possibly have an effect on your mental wellbeing. Your colleagues are going to think you’re an idiot.” Eventually, he felt he had no choice but to explain why he was underperforming and confessed to his sergeant: “So sitting in front of my sergeant with my heart pounding and my mind screaming at me I blurted it out. I imagine I sounded like a blubbering idiot but I had done it. “ After being placed on an "extremely long waiting list" the CSO wrote revealed he will be starting treatment for PTSD tomorrow “This is where the real work begins and this is where I will be getting my life back on track. “My colleagues don’t laugh. I have the most supportive team around me. I am proud I acted. I will get better and I will get back to being me. “My condition does not and will not define me and the rest of my life.” View on Police Oracle

A mental health practitioner will accompany police officers to incidents involving mental health issues under the scheme. A previously successful trial where nurses pair with officers responding to calls involving mental issues is returning to Kent. The pilot by Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT) and Kent Police will run in Thanet over the next few months when demand for attendance at mental health related incidents is high. Kent Police detained 1,256 people under section 136 of the Mental Health Act in 2016 and chief superintendent Rachel Curtis hopes the triage team will help officers make “informed decisions”. She said: “The street triage scheme will mean a qualified medical professional attending mental health related incidents in Thanet that have been reported to the police. “Our police officers receive mental health training the same way they receive first aid training but they are not medical experts. “The pilot will mean those in crisis will receive qualified medical help and the officers will have on-the-scene advice from an expert to make informed decisions. “The number one priority here is making sure those suffering a mental health crisis get the most appropriate care and treatment.” The street triage scheme is the latest in a number measures KMPT and Kent Police have put in place to address mental health in police incidents in the county. KMPT’s Director of Transformation, Vincent Badu, said: “We are delighted to be involved in the delivery of this pilot scheme, which will offer a local response to anyone in crisis. “The scheme demonstrates the importance of partnership working and, through the Concordat, we have agreed joint outcomes and measures which will enable us to capture all the improvements achieved.” Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott says he will be “keeping a close eye” on the progress of the initiative. He said: “Cases involving mental health now amount for around a third of Kent Police time. “I am pleased to see the return of a street triage scheme. “I will be keeping a close eye on the scheme to see whether it helps deliver against the priorities set out within my Safer in Kent Plan. “I also continue to welcome bids to my Mental Health and Policing Fund from projects which free up police officers’ time while also ensuring that people in mental health crisis get the right support from the right person. “The increased time police spend dealing with mental health is unsustainable nationally so I will be discussing the triage outcomes with my fellow PCCs and Government so that other force areas can decide whether they wish to replicate this scheme in their own communities.” View on Police Oracle

A national campaign, led by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, has released a film featuring celebrities talking about how they faced their own mental health problems. Rapper Professor Green, cricketer Freddie Flintoff, comedian Ruby Wax and others say admitting their problems for the first time made them realise they were not alone. But for many, asking for help can be much harder. "We didn't really know what we were being sent to," Dan Farnworth, a paramedic in the north-west, says. "The next thing I knew, a child was just placed into my arms." It was 2015, and Dan had just been sent to a 999 call that would change his life. "When we arrived we knocked on the front door, but we couldn't get in. We didn't know what had happened inside," the 31-year-old told the Victoria Derbyshire programme. It quickly became apparent the call involved the murder of a young child. "All of a sudden this little girl was just placed in my arms," Dan, a father-of-four, says. "I just remember looking at her. I remember thinking she looked like one of my own children. She had the same colour hair as one of my children. "I just felt like I froze. It was scary. It is the worst thing I have ever seen in 12 years of doing this job." Flashbacks That night, the horror of what Dan had witnessed began to dawn on him. He finished his shift early and went home, but couldn't sleep. He soon realised something more serious was wrong. "I started having nightmares and flashbacks," he says. "My mind started filling in the gaps, seeing things happen that I hadn't actually seen. "It was awful. I had flashbacks during the day and I was becoming like a recluse and not talking to people at work." In the days and weeks that followed, Dan says he became "a different person". "I realised something was wrong but didn't know where to turn. It was like I was in a deep dark hole, I was scared and drinking and smoking more heavily." Dan says he was struggling to deal with his mental health problems, but feared being honest with his employers might have seen him lose his job. He had always wanted to work in the emergency services. Starting in the ambulance control room answering 999 calls, he then spent time dispatching the air ambulance, before finally applying for a job as an emergency medical technician. He had been on the road since 2010. "I was actually scared that by opening up and talking about what was going on, someone would turn round and say 'this job isn't for you'." 'Put the kettle on' Eventually Dan reached out to his friend and fellow paramedic Rich Morton. Dan says he typed out a text message, telling Rich what had been going on. However, he deleted it before he could send it. He re-wrote the message, but again deleted it. He wrote the message for a third time, and this time pressed send. Dan was so scared of what his friend would say that he hid his mobile phone under a pillow. "He texted me straight back, saying 'put the kettle on, I'm coming over'," he says now. "That text message was the first day of the rest of my life." Dan was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He was signed off work for five months. He says he was offered "unbelievable" support from his GP and received counselling. According to the charity Mind, he is not alone in working in the emergency services and suffering mental health problems. The charity says nearly 90% of blue light staff have reported stress and poor mental health at work. Emergency workers are twice as likely to identify problems at work as the main cause of those mental health problems as the general workforce, Mind says. Dan and Rich have since started their own charity, called Our Blue Light, aimed at improving the mental health of blue light services workers. And through their involvement with Mind, Dan and Rich have also rubbed shoulders with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. Marathon challenge Last year, the three royals launched a new campaign called Heads Together, aimed at ending the stigma surrounding mental health. On Wednesday, Heads Together released a series of films to encourage "a national conversation" about mental health. Celebrities including cricketer Freddie Flintoff, comedian Ruby Wax and ex-Downing Street communications director Alastair Campbell have released films about their mental health struggles. In a statement, the royals said: "We have seen time and time again that shattering stigma on mental health starts with simple conversations. "When you realise that mental health problems affect your friends, neighbours, children and spouses, the walls of judgement and prejudice around these issues begin to fall." The royals say attitudes towards mental health are now "at tipping point." As for Dan, Prince Harry had a more specific challenge. "He told me we should run the London Marathon," Dan says, "so we started running the very next day." "Stigmas still exist and [mental health] is a taboo subject," Dan says. "People think mental health is a big issue, but I'm Dan, I'm 31 years old with a job and a family and my life is normal. But I have a mental health problem." Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39432297

A national campaign, led by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, has released a film featuring celebrities talking about how they faced their own mental health problems. Rapper Professor Green, cricketer Freddie Flintoff, comedian Ruby Wax and others say admitting their problems for the first time made them realise they were not alone. But for many, asking for help can be much harder. "We didn't really know what we were being sent to," Dan Farnworth, a paramedic in the north-west, says. "The next thing I knew, a child was just placed into my arms." It was 2015, and Dan had just been sent to a 999 call that would change his life. "When we arrived we knocked on the front door, but we couldn't get in. We didn't know what had happened inside," the 31-year-old told the Victoria Derbyshire programme. It quickly became apparent the call involved the murder of a young child. "All of a sudden this little girl was just placed in my arms," Dan, a father-of-four, says. "I just remember looking at her. I remember thinking she looked like one of my own children. She had the same colour hair as one of my children. "I just felt like I froze. It was scary. It is the worst thing I have ever seen in 12 years of doing this job." Flashbacks That night, the horror of what Dan had witnessed began to dawn on him. He finished his shift early and went home, but couldn't sleep. He soon realised something more serious was wrong. "I started having nightmares and flashbacks," he says. "My mind started filling in the gaps, seeing things happen that I hadn't actually seen. "It was awful. I had flashbacks during the day and I was becoming like a recluse and not talking to people at work." In the days and weeks that followed, Dan says he became "a different person". "I realised something was wrong but didn't know where to turn. It was like I was in a deep dark hole, I was scared and drinking and smoking more heavily." Dan says he was struggling to deal with his mental health problems, but feared being honest with his employers might have seen him lose his job. He had always wanted to work in the emergency services. Starting in the ambulance control room answering 999 calls, he then spent time dispatching the air ambulance, before finally applying for a job as an emergency medical technician. He had been on the road since 2010. "I was actually scared that by opening up and talking about what was going on, someone would turn round and say 'this job isn't for you'." 'Put the kettle on' Eventually Dan reached out to his friend and fellow paramedic Rich Morton. Dan says he typed out a text message, telling Rich what had been going on. However, he deleted it before he could send it. He re-wrote the message, but again deleted it. He wrote the message for a third time, and this time pressed send. Dan was so scared of what his friend would say that he hid his mobile phone under a pillow. "He texted me straight back, saying 'put the kettle on, I'm coming over'," he says now. "That text message was the first day of the rest of my life." Dan was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He was signed off work for five months. He says he was offered "unbelievable" support from his GP and received counselling. According to the charity Mind, he is not alone in working in the emergency services and suffering mental health problems. The charity says nearly 90% of blue light staff have reported stress and poor mental health at work. Emergency workers are twice as likely to identify problems at work as the main cause of those mental health problems as the general workforce, Mind says. Dan and Rich have since started their own charity, called Our Blue Light, aimed at improving the mental health of blue light services workers. And through their involvement with Mind, Dan and Rich have also rubbed shoulders with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. Marathon challenge Last year, the three royals launched a new campaign called Heads Together, aimed at ending the stigma surrounding mental health. On Wednesday, Heads Together released a series of films to encourage "a national conversation" about mental health. Celebrities including cricketer Freddie Flintoff, comedian Ruby Wax and ex-Downing Street communications director Alastair Campbell have released films about their mental health struggles. In a statement, the royals said: "We have seen time and time again that shattering stigma on mental health starts with simple conversations. "When you realise that mental health problems affect your friends, neighbours, children and spouses, the walls of judgement and prejudice around these issues begin to fall." The royals say attitudes towards mental health are now "at tipping point." As for Dan, Prince Harry had a more specific challenge. "He told me we should run the London Marathon," Dan says, "so we started running the very next day." "Stigmas still exist and [mental health] is a taboo subject," Dan says. "People think mental health is a big issue, but I'm Dan, I'm 31 years old with a job and a family and my life is normal. But I have a mental health problem." Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39432297

A national campaign, led by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, has released a film featuring celebrities talking about how they faced their own mental health problems. Rapper Professor Green, cricketer Freddie Flintoff, comedian Ruby Wax and others say admitting their problems for the first time made them realise they were not alone. But for many, asking for help can be much harder. "We didn't really know what we were being sent to," Dan Farnworth, a paramedic in the north-west, says. "The next thing I knew, a child was just placed into my arms." It was 2015, and Dan had just been sent to a 999 call that would change his life. "When we arrived we knocked on the front door, but we couldn't get in. We didn't know what had happened inside," the 31-year-old told the Victoria Derbyshire programme. It quickly became apparent the call involved the murder of a young child. "All of a sudden this little girl was just placed in my arms," Dan, a father-of-four, says. "I just remember looking at her. I remember thinking she looked like one of my own children. She had the same colour hair as one of my children. "I just felt like I froze. It was scary. It is the worst thing I have ever seen in 12 years of doing this job." Flashbacks That night, the horror of what Dan had witnessed began to dawn on him. He finished his shift early and went home, but couldn't sleep. He soon realised something more serious was wrong. "I started having nightmares and flashbacks," he says. "My mind started filling in the gaps, seeing things happen that I hadn't actually seen. "It was awful. I had flashbacks during the day and I was becoming like a recluse and not talking to people at work." In the days and weeks that followed, Dan says he became "a different person". "I realised something was wrong but didn't know where to turn. It was like I was in a deep dark hole, I was scared and drinking and smoking more heavily." Dan says he was struggling to deal with his mental health problems, but feared being honest with his employers might have seen him lose his job. He had always wanted to work in the emergency services. Starting in the ambulance control room answering 999 calls, he then spent time dispatching the air ambulance, before finally applying for a job as an emergency medical technician. He had been on the road since 2010. "I was actually scared that by opening up and talking about what was going on, someone would turn round and say 'this job isn't for you'." 'Put the kettle on' Eventually Dan reached out to his friend and fellow paramedic Rich Morton. Dan says he typed out a text message, telling Rich what had been going on. However, he deleted it before he could send it. He re-wrote the message, but again deleted it. He wrote the message for a third time, and this time pressed send. Dan was so scared of what his friend would say that he hid his mobile phone under a pillow. "He texted me straight back, saying 'put the kettle on, I'm coming over'," he says now. "That text message was the first day of the rest of my life." Dan was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He was signed off work for five months. He says he was offered "unbelievable" support from his GP and received counselling. According to the charity Mind, he is not alone in working in the emergency services and suffering mental health problems. The charity says nearly 90% of blue light staff have reported stress and poor mental health at work. Emergency workers are twice as likely to identify problems at work as the main cause of those mental health problems as the general workforce, Mind says. Dan and Rich have since started their own charity, called Our Blue Light, aimed at improving the mental health of blue light services workers. And through their involvement with Mind, Dan and Rich have also rubbed shoulders with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. Marathon challenge Last year, the three royals launched a new campaign called Heads Together, aimed at ending the stigma surrounding mental health. On Wednesday, Heads Together released a series of films to encourage "a national conversation" about mental health. Celebrities including cricketer Freddie Flintoff, comedian Ruby Wax and ex-Downing Street communications director Alastair Campbell have released films about their mental health struggles. In a statement, the royals said: "We have seen time and time again that shattering stigma on mental health starts with simple conversations. "When you realise that mental health problems affect your friends, neighbours, children and spouses, the walls of judgement and prejudice around these issues begin to fall." The royals say attitudes towards mental health are now "at tipping point." As for Dan, Prince Harry had a more specific challenge. "He told me we should run the London Marathon," Dan says, "so we started running the very next day." "Stigmas still exist and [mental health] is a taboo subject," Dan says. "People think mental health is a big issue, but I'm Dan, I'm 31 years old with a job and a family and my life is normal. But I have a mental health problem." Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39432297

Rank:SC Length of Service: 2 Months Planned Hours:1400x2300 Type of Shift:Response (IRT) 1400: Arrive in breifing to have a superintendant drop by, brieifing complete, and he begins to discuss force model and any questions we may have. 14:30 inspector comes in to tell us we have a few calls waiting, we all grab our vehicles and sgt reads out who we're paired with. I'm working with someone i've never worked with before (I'm yet to ever work with the same person twice :P) Lovely guy and excellent to work with :P, We're in the new van! We head out, ours was a non-urgent call to someone reportedly assaulted and was with the ambulance service, we had not received any more info than possible assault but not confirmed by crew in attendance. 14:50 Arrive on scene to find no injured party or ambulance. Member of the public approaches us and tells us that they were taken away around 10 minutes ago, update comms and they tell us they're at the hospital. We go off to the hopital and speak to the person (15:10) Injury appeared old and not recent, and they were unsure of how it had happened, given advice of how to proceed if they remember any details of the incident. Resume patrol around area. 16:15 still on patrol around in our area, Get called to a house where the delivery person had found the door open, they shouted upstairs but no reply. We get cancelled en-route as the family had been contacted and they were found, resume patrol 16:00 attempt to do some paper work in a local nick, login to the computers to get called to a Domestic that happened over half an hour ago, over an hour away in rush hour... Begin the long journey non-blues. The IP had left the property and was no longer a threat. 16:45 Stood down as unit from another station were in attendance. 17:30 back at the nick again trying to do paperwork, login and straight out as we're called up again. Misper reporting wanting to commit suicide, En-route we're updated family were picking him up, all safe and well, stood down around the corner to return to duties. 18:00 attempt to go back to the nick... Get around the corner and we're called to someone who was on the phone to the 999 operator saying they wanted to end their life and they were in the process of self harming. All times after this are approx as i lost track of time My first call to a self harmer/attempted suicide, so im going in clueless on this one. At the same time calls went up for a suicide in the next town over, we were not resourced for this. 18:30 Arrive en scene to knock at the door, no answer. We open the front door and find the person laying on the sofa right infront of the door with a knife to their throat. My collegue immediately draws his Taser and has a good shot on the person. After what felt like a lifetime of trying to talk to the suspect, put the knife down we're here to talk and help ect, they attempted to put the knife into their throat, then realised it was a taser and put the knife down. The first thing they said was 'you're really cute', Weird i know, they didn't say it in a sexual way so i wasn't offended Me and my collegue get talking to the person( me and my collegue share the same first name, always a good ice breaker ) while talking to the male it appears there are many more issues than first appear. Family and mental health issues as well as PTSD from serving in the forces (I've been attracting these jobs lately). They were continually making threats towards themselves/others, We talk/walk around for a good two hours before the ambulance shows up. They becomes abit agitated at times and said he had been drinking/taken a small overdose. 20:30 Ambulance arrive and do basic Obs, ECG shows minor abnormalitiy, after much convincing and an 'agreement' between my collegue and the person we got him to the ambulance, and that was still a struggle. My collegue was excellent with them, while he would happily talk with me and we had a laugh at times he could talk to him much more 21:00 arrive at the hospital and they do their thing, we stay with him talking to them, turns out the person and collegue were both knew people in the town where they were from so we had a good laugh/talk with him, but he was still getting iritated at times. 21:15 Minor set back and the person kicked off, attempting to leave, S136'd and we remain with them to make sure they stay for treatment. Didn't have any problems after this as we were all happy talking, things got a little heated once when talking about what had happened to them, but in the end a night shift came over to cover us, hand shakes done and goodbyes said we go on our way 22:30 Crew turn up to releive us, Refs time 23:00 arrive at nick to do crime reports from earlier and finish up some paper work 00:15 finally go home for my dinner Apologises if this is terrible, there are a few details i missed out purposely in an attempt to keep everyone anonamous as you do. If i've revealed too much do edit/delete my post as approrpiate. And it's my first shift blog so go easy on me"

UK police are spending as much as 40% of their time dealing with incidents triggered by some kind of mental health issue, against a backdrop of severe cuts in social and health services, the Guardian has learned.Mental health crisis takes huge and increasing share of police time | UK news | The Guardian https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/27/mental-health-crisis-huge-increasing-share-police-time-40%3f0p19G=e?client=ms-android-orange-gb

Katie Simpkins sleeping in the back of a police car Katie Simpkins had to sleep in the back of a police car in a hospital car park, because there were no beds available. Photograph: Tristan Simpkins/PA Steven Morris A chief constable has expressed deep concern that a patient with serious mental health problems had to sleep in the back of a police car in a hospital car park because there was no bed available for her. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/02/wiltshire-police-hospital-bed-mental-health?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard What would you or your forve have done?

This is a really sad case and I have the upmost sympathy for the parents. However, I am really disappointed at the way in which ‘police-present drownings’ are reported in the media. Jack was taken to hospital and received care from a Consultant, who discharged him following an episode of drug induced psychosis, without giving any after care advice. That is a clear failure in relation to clinical responsibilities of duty of care. I also assume that this lad was not medicated? Someone in that state needs to be put on diazepam for a few days, plus some sleeping pills. He probably had not slept in days, which would have caused a form of psychosis in its own right. Also, there should have been some follow up. Whilst a one off episode of drug induced psychosis is not necessarily indicative of someone suffering from chronic mental illness, there should have been a referral to an Early Intervention Service who would have followed this up. The failings that led to the death are clearly based on NHS failings and not police ones. The police were put in a difficult situation and, contrary to the sub-headline, the police did the water (see other article link below). The Officer who did enter the water, PC Richard Wilson, did so bravely and I cannot imagine how upset he was to find that his efforts were in vain. He actually got into trouble himself and had to be rescued by a rower, who provided an account of the dangers of the situation and corroborated the dynamic risk assessment that was undertaken. I am not the best swimmer in the world, but I have done a Rescue Diver course as part of my scuba diver training. The training was clear and unequivocal that it is problematic to rescue a non-compliant individual. Scuba Divers in trouble are not the same as someone running away from the police. However, someone panicking in water and thrashing about is dangerous regardless of what caused them to be in that state in the first place. The training that I received was to leave people who were non-compliant until they had exhausted themselves and then effect a rescue. This is specific to Scuba Divers, but the principles are similar. The safety of the rescuer takes priority and a non-compliant person cannot be safely rescued. The criticism about police / bystanders lacking a sense of urgency is driven by a misperception that someone can jump into dangerous water and safely rescue someone with being injured or otherwise needing rescue themselves. Link to other article: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/apr/29/jack-susianta-boy-17-drowned-fleeing-police-accidental-death-inquest-rules

This is a more typical duty that I have done recently Your rank: PC Your planned duty hours: 0700-1700 0700 - Briefing. Double crewed, only double crew to cover the area. 0800 - Call received from a lady stating that she had been made aware of a lifeline activation at her elderly mother's address. Upon her arrival all of the doors are locked and her spare key is useless because there is a key in the other side of the door. Mum has had a history of falls in the last 12 months, and upon looking through the window can see her mum lay on the floor in the hall. Calls police to assist in gaining entry. 0830 - Upon police arrival we decide to smash the bottom panel of glass in the back door, messy but cheapest and easiest to replace. Elderly female is alert, conscious and breathing but is unable to move and can feel pain around her hip and back. Call is put in to ambulance. 0930 - After an hour of feeling pretty helpless (gave her a pillow and some blankets to make her feel more comfortable) and making small talk paramedics finally arrive (it had been graded a red 2 eight minute response time they told us when putting the call in ). Left the female in the care of paramedics and daughter said that she knew of a glazier that could replace the glass. 1000 - Incoming aircraft emergency at the nearby international airport is put out for information only on the local talkgroup. Headquarters resources were attending but we were made aware in case it came to something and we were required. 1300 - Call received from a female stating that her partner had recently been discharged from the mental health unit and was now back home self harming and trying to slit his own throat. We asked about taser however the risk assessment was that the subject only posed a threat to himself and not others therefore local officers to attend and it would be reassessed if we were met with a threat. Whilst en route control told me that the male in question had been sectioned just before Christmas after putting a knife down his throat and trying to swallow it. The location is a row of three storey flats, each accessed by a balcony as opposed to being a tower block. Upon arrival see a male stood in the doorway of the incident address (second storey). Upon seeing us he goes back inside and closes the door. By the time we get up to his storey he has come back outside and is stood on the balcony. I approach him, in company with my crew mate, and he is compliant and engages with us. My crew mate then see's a female at the bottom of the stairway and goes to speak to her, who it transpires was the caller. After a few minutes of me speaking to the male he tells me that he had woken up that morning and felt in a bad way (mentally) and that he just wanted to hurt himself, he doesn't know why. I asked him what he did and he told me that he smashed a glass over his head and then tried to cut his throat with it however it was too blunt and would not pierce the skin. He had no injuries when I looked. After a few minutes my crewmate comes back up and then arrests the male for domestic assault. Unbeknown to me a domestic argument had taken place and the male had said if she tries to leave he would try to kill himself; she duly left and that is when the glass smashing incident took place. Following the female's call to the police he had then gone outside into the hallway area and headbutted her. Female is not willing to support a prosecution or give a statement, if anything she felt annoyed that she had called police to help her partner (self harm) and we were arresting him. Although at least one benefit would be that he would receive a mental health assessment in custody and would not be able to self harm. 1530 - Clerical 1700 - Cease Duty

A frustrated Met police officer has live-tweeted their six-hour battle to find an available mental health bed in London for a man who was a “danger to himself”. Full Story - Evening Standard

Hi All, I've just joined this forum to ask one question. Yesterday a friend had a bad argument at home and threatened to harm himself to me. A a lot of his friends were very concerned for him. We had no contact from him since yesterday, so I was elected to call the police. I rang the 101 number and spoke to a controller and expressed my concerns. She located a report filed yesterday by his spouse. She obviously couldn't tell me anything about what was going on, apart from that my friend had been located and that he was being dealt with. She took my name and number, and said they'd let him know I'd rang up concerned. So, my question is - does this mean that my friend is still in police custody? Thanks, JCA

The home secretary, Theresa May, is to pledge up to £15m of new funding to provide health-based alternatives for the 4,000 people a year who spend time in detention in police cells under the Mental Health Act. In her first speech since being reappointed home secretary, May will tell the Police Federation conference on Wednesday that a new policing and sentencing bill, to be included in next week’s Queen’s speech, will include legislation to ban the use of police cells to detain any children with mental health problems. It is thought that the ban on detaining those under 18 in police cells as “places of safety” is likely to affect at least 150 children each year because of the lack of alternative NHS health facilities. The policing and sentencing bill is also expected to include a manifesto promise to introduce a new sentence based around a “sharp, short spell in custody” that will involve locking up prolific offenders in police cells “to change their behaviour”. The home secretary is to tell the Police Federation that the extra £15m in funding will save police time and ensure that vulnerable people receive the medical care and support they need. The Conservative manifesto includes a pledge to ensure proper provision of places of safety for people suffering mental health crises. The new funding is to be made available to the NHS, working in partnership with police and crime commissioners, to fund more health-based and alternative places of safety. People detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 can be held in a hospital or police station for up to 72 hours. May is to tell the Police Federation conference in Bournemouth: “Nobody wins when the police are sent to look after people suffering from mental health problems; vulnerable people don’t get the care they need and deserve, and the police can’t get on with the job they are trained to do. “Last year, over 4,000 people detained under section 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act were held in a police cell rather than in a health-based place of safety. “The government will provide the bed and the funding that is needed to stop that happening. This will mean up to £15m of new funding to deliver health-based places of safety in England and a guarantee from this government that no person with mental health problems will be detained by the police due to the lack of a suitable alternative. “The right place for a person suffering a mental health crisis is a bed, not a police cell. And the right people to look after them are medically trained professionals, not police officers.” The latest figures show that at least 21,995 people were sectioned under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983, of whom at least 20% were detained in police cells. The police are estimated to spend between 20% and 40% of their time dealing with people with mental health issues. The new legislation in next week’s Queen’s speech will also ensure that police cells are only used as a place of safety for adults if the person’s behaviour is so extreme that they cannot otherwise be safely managed. The current 72-hour maximum period of detention for the purposes of a medical assessment will be reduced and the new bill will enable other places, apart from police cells and health-based alternatives, to be designated as places of safety to support vulnerable people. View the full article

Liverpool Crown Court building An ex-RAF man attacked a Wirral custody assistant causing her horrific facial injuries. Dad-of-two Jonathan Hindley, 37, of Broadway Avenue, Wallasey, was being held at Wirral’s police custody suite after damage had been caused to a neighbour’s property. Liverpool Crown Court was told that as he was being led along a corridor to make a phone call he grabbed the custody assistant by the throat and crushed her to the floor, leaving her bleeding from the face and struggling to breathe. It took six police officers using CS gas to pull Hindley off her in the incident last September. Doctors later found that her mouth had been torn away from her jaw. Hindley pleaded guilty to section 18 assault in January. Frank Dillon, prosecuting, read out a victim impact statement from the woman, who had worked as a custody assistant for 10 years. She said: “Mr Hindley never leaves me. No matter what I go or where I do he sits on my right shoulder. “I feel the crushing arms of him around me at night instead of the safe arms of my husband of 30 years. “Mr Hindley was prevented from taking my life, but he has prevented me from returning to the life I had before. “I can’t find the strength to fight, I can’t return to that feeling of being lucky, I can’t find me.” Liverpool Crown Court heard that Hindley started suffering from paranoid delusions after returning from holiday in September last year, believing that his family was in danger and that hospital computers were bugged. He ended up in custody after an incident which led to damage to a neighbour’s property. Mr Dillon told the court that his victim had found him polite and good humoured earlier in the evening before the unprovoked attack took place. He added that the attack had caused her “serious psychological trauma.” Dr Steven Knoblett, who is treating Mr Hindley, told the court: “There is a direct link between his offence and his mental illness. “He wouldn’t have engaged in that offence without his acute psychosis.” Passing a hospital order, Judge Watson said that Hindley’s behaviour was “inexplicable” without his mental health problems. “For someone of your age, your background, and without previous convictions, to attack a public servant in this way would be otherwise inexplicable, but it becomes explicable, not forgivable, through the findings that Mr Knoblett has set out today.” He added that the public would be better protected through the hospital order than if Hindley went into custody. http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/ex-raf-man-launched-horrific-attack-8973365

source A sad tale, hopefully he now gets the help he needs.

According to Insp Michael Brown, the MH co-ordinator for mental health (and star of the Mental Health NCALT/avid tweeter), there are some new codes of practice for the Mental Health Act 1983, due to come into force on the 1st of april. According to his twitter, operational police officers should take note of chapters 16, 17, 27 & 28. You may also wish to read 14 & 15. I thought I'd post this here, as we all know we'll probably not get told this has changed, then get penalised for it later down the line! Bottom covering in overdrive! Insp Brown has also written up a summary: https://mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com/2015/01/15/new-code-of-practice/ Codes of practice are at: http://t.co/QXuKbY8dsS (direct PDF download) The new Code of Practice to the Mental Health Act 1983 - http://t.co/QXuKbY8dsS #newcopmha — Insp Michael Brown (@MentalHealthCop) March 19, 2015 Enjoy, Soap

There is no comparison of elsewhere and I have no idea what classified something as a "ligature incident" so this could be alarmingly high or it could be a media "shocking statistics say" headline.

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