Florence Nightingale Hospitals confronts growing problem of teenage mental illness

In 1999 20% of suicidal callers to the mental health helpline SANELINE were aged 15-24 years; teenage mental illness is on the increase in our society. Statistics show that throughout the past decade there have been approximately 19 000 suicide attempts by adolescents every year and at least two teenagers a day actually succeed in killing themselves. Although media attention has heightened awareness of the problem, very little has changed in the way these young people are treated. There is a distinct lack of available facilities for the specialist treatment of adolescent mental illness. Florence Nightingale Hospitals aims to help redress the situation, with the opening of its Young Persons Centre. Here, adolescents can benefit from focused specialist care, including an adapted educational programme and group therapy sessions. Emphasis is placed on helping the teenagers and their families understand their illness and teaching them how to cope with it in its early stages, and perhaps avoid getting caught in the ‘revolving hospital door’. The Central London unit offers treatment by a multi-disciplinary team consisting of consultant psychiatrists, a clinical psychologist, family counsellor, art psychotherapist, social worker, teacher and senior nurse manager and nursing staff.

For further details contact Zsara Hodgkinson, Marketing Manager, Florence Nightingale Hospitals; tel: 020 7535 7746; e-mail: [email protected] , or Anna Wright, SPARX Communications; tel: 07153 893 000; e-mail: [email protected].