Police Respond to issues

TV bigmouth Piers Morgan has, no surprise here, come under fire on Twitter for supporting claims that celebrities are jumping on a mental health bandwagon.

The controversial presenter backed claims from soap star Bev Callard who suggested some celebrities are sporting mental health conditions like Gucci handbags. Cue outrage and brick-bats aplenty in the twittersphere.

Whether it has become fashionable among celebrities to jump on a mental health bandwagon is open to debate, the truth of the condition, however, cannot be so easily dismissed.

And on the frontline of policing in our community, it is not a fashion choice, but a serious concern ... a matter of life or death.

Which is why we can take some heart in knowing that Northumbria Police is a trailblazer in this area.

As we reveal today, the Respond project is proving a huge success in dealing with mental health sufferers in our community.

It is so effective that it has garnered interest from many other forces in the country and has won rave reviews from experts in the field.

But what matters are results, and they have been impressive.

The Respond project has helped reduce the number of people detained under the Mental Health Act and getting more on the frontline talking about the issue.

Inspector Steve Baker, the force’s lead for mental health, said: “What I want to say to people is that it’s OK not to be OK.

“One in four of us will become mentally unwell.

“What we are trying to do is start that conversation about mental health and get rid of that stigma.”

As the police are proving, you don’t need a big mouth to make a valid point.