World Mental Health Day

On World Mental Health Day we’re pleased to announce that we’ve secured funding for a Mental health support and education pilot project for the southeast covering Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

We have been awarded the funding by NHS England who set up a Spinal Cord Injury Transformation Group for the Southeast, part of the national program to transform services for people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

This funding will aim to transform mental health care for SCI people by offering access to specialist mental health provision for everyone affected by SCI in the southeast. In parallel the project will supply training and support to healthcare professionals in the area to build greater understanding, awareness and skills amongst district general hospitals, major trauma units and SCI Centres.

We know that SCI people need access to mental health support at the earliest possible opportunity following injury 

In our research paper ‘It’s not just physical’ published in 2021 we reported that 28% of people living with SCI experience frequent suicidal thoughts with 47% of people experiencing mental health problems such as depression, anxiety or PTSD. Meanwhile almost half of our respondents to this year’s ‘What Matters’ report said that access to counsellors and therapists who understand SCI was a major concern.

Kathryn Hill, our director of programmes said:

“We know that SCI people need access to mental health support at the earliest possible opportunity following injury and that mental health issues are felt most acutely post discharge from rehabilitation centres or hospitals.”