Lockdown is easing, the UK starting to reopen closed doors and life looking a little more normal once again. Spring is in the air and the sun is shining. Easter behind us, children back at school, and summer on the horizon and looming large. The reasons for optimism ought to be abundant. But still… For...Read More

Sam Holness has a superpower.  It makes him different, not like the other athletes. It gives him, he believes, an edge, a strength that he plans to put to good use as he strives to realise his sporting dreams. That edge? That strength? That superpower? It’s autism. Sam was three when the diagnosis was made,...Read More

Feeling helpless. Victimhood. Disengagement.  For obvious reasons, such feelings are commonplace at the current time, more than ever perhaps, such is life in lockdown, the COVID crisis leaving us all grasping for control, unable to do much more than tread water and await our respective fates. Such feelings then are, to a certain extent, inevitable;...Read More

It’s the sequel no-one wanted.  Lockdown 2. The latest instalment in a long-running saga for which no finale has yet been scripted. The shutters are going up once again, restrictions tightened, and freedoms limited. There can be no question, this has implications for us all. COVID-19 – and all that it entails – is a...Read More

The coronavirus experience. Good or bad? How has it been for you?  These are questions we posed on our blog a little earlier this month, the first of a two-part post looking at life in lockdown, with the focus on the problems posed for parents during the most difficult days in quarantine, with classrooms closed,...Read More

Ever thought about anxiety? Where it comes from? How it influences and affects those closest to us? Is it, for instance, genetic or a product of our environment? Should we be thinking about such things in altogether different terms? Most people, we think it’s fair to say, don’t have such thoughts or ever ask such...Read More

These are challenging times for many.  Children and young people with pre-existing mental health issues, are brought into sharp focus this week, following new research from YoungMinds. Having surveyed more than 2,000 under-25s with a mental health history, the charity’s findings are striking. The picture painted underlines that COVID-19 isn’t just affecting our bodies.  Increased...Read More

Concerned about Coronavirus (COVID-19)? You’re far from alone. It is dominating debate and discussion – the sole talking point, and the subject on everybody’s lips. On news bulletins. On social media. In the school playground. This seems certain to be the case for days, weeks and months to come. These are troubling times that are...Read More

  This is an unsettling time. Children and young people who are already experiencing stress and anxiety, can find it especially difficult. Our aim is to continue to provide a safe, effective and supportive mental health service whilst protecting our patients, their families, staff and our associates. We are monitoring the developing Coronavirus situation on...Read More

Eating disorders are on the rise in the UK.  Young people in particular are at risk.  This is something that we’ve been saying here for quite some time now. It gives us no satisfaction to report that the latest research – published this autumn – backs up our long-held assertion. Published in the journal BMJ...Read More