Families Report Institutional Trauma following mental Health Act Sectioning of Children
A growing number of parents are voicing concerns over the care their children receive after being sectioned under the Mental Health Act,alleging that the institutions meant to provide support instead inflict further trauma. These accounts echo recent reports detailing harrowing experiences within facilities like Huntercombe,where patients have described feeling imprisoned and unsupported.
One parent, writing anonymously to The Guardian, shared their experience of their daughter being sectioned three times for an eating disorder.The child spent 15 months in locked institutions where self-harm, suicide attempts, and absconding were commonplace. The parent described a system that felt deliberately obstructive,isolating families and lacking accessible therapeutic support. They were forced to seek a family support group outside their health authority area due to a local absence of such services, highlighting a critical gap in care.
“We are lucky to still have our daughter with us; there are many times we thought this wouldn’t be the case,” the parent wrote. Their daughter is now undergoing private therapy to address the trauma experienced during her institutionalization. The parent expressed regret over initially consenting to the sectioning, stating that choice was removed “far too quickly.”
These experiences underscore a wider debate surrounding the Mental Health Act and the quality of care provided to young people experiencing mental health crises. Concerns center on the lack of family support, limited access to therapy within institutions, and the potential for institutional environments to exacerbate existing trauma.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.
