Latest news with #therapeuticsupport
BBC News
18 hours ago
- Health
- BBC News
Stoke-on-Trent 'peace pod' to help child mental health patients
A "peace pod" designed to reduce the number of hospital stays for children and young people with complex mental health issues has opened in suite, at North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust's Darwin Centre, in Stoke-on-Trent, offers therapeutic support and interventions, staff is designed to provide an alternative to a ward for patients with eating disorders, acute emotional dysregulation or learning to be the first of its kind in the country, it is hoped the new space will avoid patients requiring admission to the trust's psychiatric intensive care unit and specialist eating disorder unit. The development of the pod and training for staff was funded by Toucan, a West Midlands Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Mellor, chief strategy officer at Combined Healthcare, said it would enable the trust to deliver "the best quality care for young people when they need it the most".Service manager Glynis Harford, explained the young patients at the Darwin Centre, who are aged between 12 and 18, sometimes needed "high-intensity, short-term" care or support to move through "distressing emotions"."The suite will form a core part of the ward, acting as a flexible space that we can quickly and easily reconfigure as a safe space to deliver more intensive support where required," she improvements recently made at the Darwin Centre included the addition of a dietician, an art therapist and upgraded sensory equipment, the trust added. Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
‘Child sexual abuse support services face closure or cuts in funding shortfall'
Many support services for survivors of child sexual abuse are 'on the verge of breaking point', according to experts working in the sector. The centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre) said a research survey of providers had found more than three-quarters facing uncertainty about future funding and a fifth considering closure or cuts to their services. The centre warned that, despite a recommendation from the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) almost three years ago that specialist therapeutic support should be guaranteed for child victims of sexual abuse, 'thousands' have been left waiting months or years to access support. The CSA Centre said its findings were based on 124 support services in England and Wales responding to its survey. The centre said 23 support services closed in the 18 months since their last national survey in 2023, leaving 363 such services across the whole of England and Wales. The organisation estimated that this equates to each remaining service having an average of 16,500 victims and survivors to support. The survey results found more than three-quarters of respondents said they were facing uncertainty about future funding for their services, with some indicating there was less money available and others citing the short-term and insecure nature of funding. One in five respondents said they were facing full or partial closure or could have to cut support without 'sufficient' funding being confirmed within the next few months. Centre director Ian Dean said: 'This report starkly illustrates the huge shortfall in support for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, with many services reporting that they are now on the verge of breaking point.' He said the current situation is that 'thousands of children and adults are still left waiting months or even years to access support, with services struggling to meet rising demand on increasingly overstretched budgets'. He described as 'essential that the Government honours its commitment to victims and survivors of abuse by ensuring the consistent, widespread funding of support services that is so desperately needed across the country'. Fay Maxted, from The Survivors Trust, said the research 'powerfully sets out the impact that the current funding crisis is having on specialist services and the challenges victims and survivors are facing in accessing the support and help they need and are entitled to'. The CSA Centre is mainly funded by the Home Office and hosted by Barnardo's. The charity's chief executive Lynn Perry said the research 'shines a light on the concerning reduction in support available for children who have been sexually abused' and said the Chancellor must make a commitment to investment in her spending review next month. Ms Perry said: 'The need for specialist services has never been greater, yet funding for these very services continues to decline. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse rightly called for a guarantee of specialist therapeutic support for child victims of sexual abuse. 'We urge the government to use the upcoming spending review to invest in these vital services and to seize this opportunity to make sure no child misses out on the support they need to work towards a positive future.'
