Back from the brink
Meet the man who helps suicidal people find a reason to live...
The NHS at 70: A 5 News Tonight Special
Monday-thursday, 6.30pm Channel 5
When someone suffers a mentalhealth crisis, it’s Brett Doolan’s job to be the first person on the scene, and over the years he’s helped many suicidal people realise they have something to live for.
The 46-year-old mentalhealth nurse works with a police officer when there’s an emergency and there’s one incident in particular that sticks in his mind…
Life saver
‘A man had jumped on to the railway tracks,’ says Brett. ‘He’d grabbed the track to try to electrocute himself, but fortunately a railway worker had turned the electricity off. Luckily I was able to persuade him to seek help.’
Brett is just one of the many dedicated mentalhealth professionals who have helped change the fortunes of Langley Green mental health hospital in Sussex, turning a oncestruggling institution into an award-winning one.
Featuring conversations with health workers and patients, this series of special reports shows what it is like dealing with some of Britain’s most vulnerable patients.
‘There is no age limit on who we treat,’ explains Brett. ‘It can be a child or someone in their 90s.’
Yet no matter who he’s treating, Brett knows the best way of helping someone is to try to understand his or her problems…
‘I’ve been a mental-health worker for 28 years,’ he says. ‘The most important thing to do is listen, you learn more by listening than you do by talking.’