We (the Fast Dreamers) have been challenged to raise money, and more importantly, awareness of a charity of our choosing. When YoungMinds was mentioned I had never heard of it before. I was shocked to discover that 850,000 children in the UK have mental health problems. With the huge stigma still around mental health this can mean that children and young people don’t get the support they need.
Sadly children in crisis can often be placed into a police cell, there is currently a bill going through parliament which will hopefully stop this happening but we’re not there yet. So our team decided it would do a ‘Night in the Cells’ to raise awareness of this issue and the work YoungMinds does. To this end we got in touch with Durham Constabulary as it is renowned for its community focus and hasn’t had a young person in a crisis placed in a police cell since April 2014.
As expected Durham Constabulary have been supportive of the idea and we are working with them and PCC Ron Hogg to raise awareness of this issue. So on the 21st December at 2100 the door will close on my cell. You can follow this experience on Twitter and please share away. It is important to get as many people as possible talking openly about this problem to raise awareness and promote understanding.
If you feel able to sponsor us for this event please give to our Virgin Giving Page where all the money will go direct to YoungMinds to raise funds to better children’s mental health services. Preventing those young people who are going through a mental health crisis is just one important step. They also shouldn’t be placed onto adult psychiatric wards or forced to travel hundreds of miles to the nearest bed and away from the friends and family that can offer support. They urgently need the early intervention service to be improved and the right help if they do reach crisis point which is where Young Minds can help.
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