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Friday 19 November 2010

Children in Need - Slap in the Face!

One of the first clips they showed tonight for the appeal was about equine therapy. It featured young people from Northern Ireland who suffered from various mental health issues, including BPD. The intro said how they contemplated suicide, self harm bla bla bla....

Sorry, but it makes me really angry. As a teenager i would see the programme and imagine how these various charities could help me & make my life better, but i didn't have access to them - no instead i got sectioned or admitted to an adolescent unit, spending nights on adult psych wards until they found a bed on the adolescent units at age 14!

Surely in their research they must have realised how rare access to equine therapy is! I tried and tried as a teenager to find it, but discovered there were only a handful across Great Britain. And i don't think the situation has changed much, as i have looked within the past couple of years again.

But my point is how many other young teenagers are sitting watching Children in Need, quietly next to their parents, hiding their emotions, feelings & possibly the fact that they self harm? How many are thinking "Thats how i feel! Maybe equine therapy could help me!" Only to find that it is next to impossible to access. How many teenager feel like Children In Need is just a slap in the face because they are unable to access any of these charities, groups & services?

2 people had something to say about this:

Bippidee said...

I am not a child, but I felt like that watching it. They weren't children they were showing anyway, and I just felt jealous that they had that opportunity. And then guilty for being such a bitch.

Susie said...

why should you feel guilty for not having access to things that could help?

I can't help but wonder if i had access to equine therapy (because i'm horse mad anyway!) whether that could have prevented so many hospital admissions & being sectioned for the first time at age 17.

 
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