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Hundreds of families have experienced despair while dealing with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Cumbria, with long waits for appointments, cancellations, delays in referral and staff shortages just some of the problems faced by service users.

Prompted by the consistent outcry from parents, the Evening Mail launched the Healthy Young Minds campaign in July, which aims to secure more funding for the service, improve access to specialist support and help families spot the warning signs earlier in their children.

Today our campaign has stepped up again as we are calling for members of the public to sign a petition demanding the government recognises the systematic problems, both logistically and financially, in Cumbria.


Evening Mail Editor James Higgins signing the petition. LEANNE BOLGER James Higgins, editor of the Evening Mail, said: “There is a crisis in the provision of mental health services for children and teenagers in south Cumbria and the government needs to listen very carefully to concerns of the public, CAMHS and Evening Mail readers.

“This petition is the next step in our Healthy Young Minds campaign.

“It calls for exactly what parents are demanding – for the crisis in Cumbria’s child mental health service to be recognised and for an urgent review to be carried into its funding. I would urge the communities of south Cumbria to back our call by signing one of the petitions.”

The petition can be signed on our website at www.nwemail.co.uk or at the following four venues in Barrow: the Evening Mail office in Abbey Road, Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock’s office in Hartington Street, Self-harm Awareness for All in Duke Street and the Barrow and District Disability Association in School Street.

Mr Woodcock was one of the first to sign the petition from Westminster. He has added his support to the campaign, saying the funding for mental health services “should be sacrosanct”.
John Woodcock MP signs the Evening Mail's Healthy Young Minds petition.

The petition is also being hosted at SAFA, a charity which empowers people who self-harm to take responsibility for their own lives by offering counselling and trusting support.

Rod White, chairman of the charity, said he wholeheartedly supported the petition and the calls for action from the government.

He said: “I am very happy to support anything that puts pressure on the powers that be to help create properly funded and supported mental health provision for all young people – accessible to all when they need it.”

The Evening Mail is asking our readers to back our efforts to improve services and secure more funding for the crisis-hit teams in south Cumbria by signing the petition. The Healthy Young Minds campaign has already received support on a national level from the National Autistic Society.