Lack of Mental Health Support during Covid-19

By Robin (from ABLEize)

ABLEize has made a shocking discovery that many people with severe anxiety, depression and loneliness as well as thoughts of suicide during the fears following Coronavirus (COVID-19) are not able to receive the mental health support they so desperately need.

Due to the lack of mental health support during Coronavirus (COVID-19) we have received numerous emails from people of all ages in desperation telling us that many of the well-known UK mental health support organisations are understandably unable to cope with the call rates and those in need simply cannot get through even to speak to somebody.

We understand that these are unprecedented times and being able to cope with the unexpected volume of calls is understandable. Because of this we knew that something had to be done so two weeks ago we set about the mammoth task of creating what is now the largest database of UK mental health support organisations offering telephone, Internet, text and online support services to help alleviate the pressure from the larger organisations.

We built this vital list of mental health contacts and have categorised them by county and then we set about informing many of the large organisations of the alternatives for those in desperate need when calling their organisations and getting the engaged tone or recorded message.

We have emailed and spoke to many of the the U.K.’s largest mental health organisations and were completely shocked, disgusted and disturbed by many when asked if they could include these alternative contacts on their websites. I’m sure you will be just as shocked.

All have complimented us on building such a large and important resource and at the speed that we have done it but many (thankfully not all) clearly stated that they “cannot promote other organisations“

I am sure like me you are totally shocked to hear that many of the so-called caring charitable organisations are more concerned about themselves and their charity ( and most probably the charitable funds received) than they are about addressing the importance of people with mental health problems that are desperate for help in these extreme desperate times.

We are therefore calling on you to help us get these valuable resources out and seen by those that need them, this can be done through blogging, Facebook, Twitter etc but the important thing is we get this information out.

Please see the complete mental health support list of UK counties by clicking this Coronavirus (COVID-19) mental health support link.

We were under the assumption that once this list had been completed that all national organisations would gladly ensure that “alternative options” were available to anybody with severe mental health problems that are really struggling during these extremely difficult times.

We assumed they would happily include this information on their websites or social media pages rather than risk those in need being made even more frustrated, depressed or even suicidal by receiving a engaged tone or message that says that “sorry we are busy at this moment”

One can only imagine what effect this would have on somebody in desperation or crisis times.

Thank you for taking the time in reading this and we hope that you can help us to help those in desperate need during these desperate times.

Stay safe and look after yourselves and your loved ones.

Author Bio

Robin is an activist with ABLEize, run by people with disabilities and the largest and most viewed UK disability, special needs and mobility website on the net. Here you will find 480 plus categories filled with everything from mobility and daily living aids through to support, disability sports, arts, access and travel, accessible holidays, education, care providers and a whole range of social and fun clubs and groups near you.

The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect all or some of our beliefs and policy.  Any links on this page does not necessarily mean they have been endorsed by Defying Mental Illness.