Our CEO shares her thoughts on the Government's review of support for mental health conditions, ADHD and autism.

At James’ Place we have treated over 6,000 men in suicidal crisis, many of whom could and should have received help much earlier, before their difficulties escalated into crisis. Today, the Government has published its independent review by Professor Fonagy into the prevalence of mental health conditions, autism and ADHD. The report found that mental health problems are on the rise, and the current system is not helping people early enough.

Professor Fonagy’s recommendation for early, practical support to protect young people from the harms of untreated mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions strongly echoes our clinical experience of treating men in suicidal crisis.

It is simply wrong that people are reaching the point of suicidal crisis because of the lack of proper support and earlier intervention. The men we treat are in urgent need of life-saving support; they can find that help at James’ Place in the North East, North West, West Midlands and London. It is vital that everyone in a suicidal crisis has access to our treatment, and we are working hard to extend our reach.

However, it is also important that action is taken to prevent people from reaching that point of suicidal crisis. We must move away from long waiting lists for those experiencing mental distress, and ensure that when people need treatment, they get it quickly and reliably. The report’s findings on ADHD and autism are striking, and we recognise the need for urgent support, regardless of diagnosis. At James’ Place we often see men with undiagnosed and/or untreated neurodivergence, who have had really difficult experiences because of that lack of treatment, support and understanding. Men like Andrew, who became suicidal when dealing with undiagnosed neurodivergence and difficult life events, who had been on a long waiting list for talking therapies. We were able to start helping him within two days, when he needed it most.

We provide an urgent service, seeing men quickly, and offering a structured, proven intervention delivered by professional therapists. Our insights from this work clearly show that if we do not intervene early enough when someone begins showing the signs of distress, poor wellbeing, and behavioural or social issues, these problems quickly compound. It is more important than ever for young people and children, and indeed adults, to get timely support.

Our experience shows that we need better treatment and early intervention, timely access to appropriate treatment when problems emerge, and urgent crisis support for those in need. This needs to be rigorously delivered and sustainably funded. While we are pleased to see the findings of this report, we urge action now, to prevent a new generation of people from reaching the point of suicidal crisis when their difficulties could have been treated and averted much earlier on.