College stabbing showed me why they need help
One lunchtime at a college in south London, 16-year-old Daniel saw a friend being harrassed by a group of older students. He went over to help, got caught up in the fray and was stabbed in the thigh near his femoral artery. At risk of bleeding to death, he was taken to hospital where doctors managed to save his life.
Although Daniel was, in many respects, a normal teenager from a middle-class home, he had fallen in with an unsavoury crowd. He was lucky to physically recover from his life-threatening injuries. But what of the psychological scars?
Daniel suffered from vivid flashbacks, reliving the stabbing over and over. He even stopped washing his hands because the sensation of water reminded him of the blood pouring from his thigh. Whatever he did, he couldn’t escape the horror of what had happened to him.
But Daniel was lucky because he had parents who looked for help and he was referred to David Trickey, a specialist in trauma at the Anna Freud national Centre for Children and Families in London.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychological disorder caused by being exposed to violent or distressing events and can affect anyone.
Often people can process such events themselves but if they can’t, and the symptoms persist after six months, their problems are unlikely to go away without therapeutic help.
PTSD makes people feel wired, sensitive to the slightest threat. In children, this can have an impact on behaviour and performance at school. Their heart beats faster. They have difficulty sleeping. Concentration goes. Their tempers get frayed – so trouble is never far away.
In Daniel’s case, his flashbacks meant that he saw threat all around. For him, picking up a knife to defend himself against another attack seemed the only solution. With therapy, though, he learned how to give his fear an outlet without escalating to violence.
now, the Anna Freud Centre is expanding its work in child and family mental health with a new
building. Demand for the centre’s services has grown, partly due to greater recognition of mental health problems in young people – not least because of the inspirational Heads Together campaign, spearheaded by The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. It’s an amazing charity and one I am proud to work with, as I’m passionate about children’s mental health and parental well-being.
I studied child psychology at university and now, with two young children, I am about to start training as a children’s counsellor so I can help troubled young people like Daniel.
The Anna Freud Centre’s aim is to bring together world- class expertise in research, policy and practice.
And at the heart of the new campus is the Pears Family School, for children aged five to 13 who have been excluded from other educational establishments.
The school, which has been running as a pilot on a temporary site, already has a remarkable success rate. Within four terms, almost two-thirds of children return to their former school and 95 per cent of them have stayed there.
One of the keys to its success is that families are invited to join their children in classes.
The idea is to deal with the problem the child is facing both in the school and at home. Parents and carers are seen as part of the solution – so that, when a child returns to mainstream school, the support can be maintained.
ALL children need adults around them to guide and help them in times of trouble. To help children, we also need to help parents. I don’t know any parent who hasn’t struggled at some stage and, when you’re struggling, you feel you’re failing, that people think you’re a bad parent – so you hide away, too worried or ashamed to ask for help.
Part of the Anna Freud Centre’s purpose is to encourage people to ask for help when they need it.
I have had the privilege of meeting many parents and children who have benefited from the expertise and guidance offered through the centre.
Its work also provides other schools in the UK with the tools they need to understand the best ways to promote mental health and help those who need it.
It has benefited more than one million children.
Thankfully, most youngsters don’t have to go through what Daniel went through. Most are happy and well and thriving. That’s the good news.
But to those who are struggling, we need to give them help so their problems don’t stack up and spill out – so that all children can make the most of their lives. I know that’s what I want for mine.