Back in the summer, I tuned in to Newsnight for an item about an NHS Trust where 8,000 people in touch with mental health services died in three years. My daughter was one of the 8,000. Whilst watching the programme, I wondered what I would have thought if I hadn’t …
To prevent such deaths requires health professionals to take a broader view of risk than ideation. This is also true for tragic homicides by people with acute mental illness. Health professionals need to listen attentively to the concerns of family members, and/or friends.
Between four and ten women take their own lives each week in the UK because of domestic abuse. For families this is a dark, lonely and challenging place.
Many years ago, as a young woman, I also wanted to change the world. I wanted the inequalities within and between countries to be reduced.
The lead psychiatrist for the mental health trust phoned me. She was thoughtful, reflective and kind. I felt that she and her team were trying to reflect and learn.
My much loved daughter in law Mariana Pinto died, aged 32, on 16 October 2016. The Coroner, issued a narrative verdict at the end of the inquest, on 13 March 2017: “Mariana Pinto died on Sunday, 16 October 2016, when she stepped over the balcony of her home, fell from …