Children in Manchester attack still wait for help
CHILDREN left traumatised by the Manchester terror attack are still waiting for counselling seven months after the atrocity.
George Swift was 12 when he was caught up in the Ariana Grande concert bombing on May 22, and is suffering from suspected post-traumatic stress disorder. But the desperate youngster has not received one-to-one counselling – despite threats to kill himself.
The schoolboy, from Runcorn, Cheshire, says he still hears sirens and suffers flashbacks – forcing him to relive the night that suicide bomber Salman Abedi claimed 22 lives. George said: “I’m scared because I’m sick of it. I try not to think about it but I can’t stop.”
Mum, Angela, 46, who was
at the concert with him, said she is “appalled” about the lack of help for the children caught up in the horror. She says George is not the only one. Her friend’s daughter, 15, is suffering alone, too.
Angela said: “George won’t speak about Manchester with me but I know he still has nightmares and doesn’t sleep very much. There is nothing for George’s age… I’ve had counselling, but not George.” She said they first went to get help for George from a GP just days after the atrocity, but were told: “You’ll get over it.”
George is now on a waiting list for counselling after the Manchester Resilience Hub, a mental health service launched after the attack, stepped in, but has been warned that this may take “quite a while”.