ARU Final Report

Full Report – March 2021 29 was to go on medication, which they felt was not always the right approach for them: “I rang the health visiting hub the other day and the most amount of support they could give me in terms of my mental health when I was struggling so much with my children was to speak to the doctors and get medication. That wasn’t the support I was looking for. I was looking to talk to and explain the problem that I’m having with my children. For someone to actually just sit there and listen and say “right, we might be able to help you in thisway or that way”, rather than “you have to go get medication”.” (FG: Female, 24) “I do have ADHD but I came off my medication when I was 16, and now being in lockdown it’s just like a concentration thing – I’m not very good at concentrating so being in lockdown it’s got a lot harder. And I think it’s made my anxiety worse. So mines more the anxiety of calling the doctors and them telling me I’m being stupid and that’s why I haven’t done it....” (FG: Female, 23) “Honestly I reached out for support but the only real two options were given to me were talking to [local charity] or going back on medication which I didn’t want to do. But I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do in a situation like this – what can anybody do. And I think that’s… It’s just an example of all the things that can’t happen and all the help that can’t be received at the moment. I have health appointments but most of the time it can’t happen anyway.” (FG: Female, 18) Further support reported across the focus groups and questionnaire included help and support from Leaving Care Services, and particularly personal advisors, as well as charities and other services, which will be covered in more detail in the theme ‘Support from services’: “My PA definitely played a massive part, always able to ring her up, if I had a down day, I was able to ring her and just say I’m feeling a bit shit. That was the closest thing I had to home support. Having her to ring up when things weren’t great, it definitely helped.” (FG: Male, 21) “My PA has been very supportivewith helping me speak to someone regarding lockdown and my mental health and I couldn’t thank him enough for him going above and beyond to make sure that I am happy :)” (Q: Male, 19) “I received so much help from the CICC group, my psychosis nurse, and my other involved professionals. They helped me get through the toughest times, by involving me with group activities when possible, Zoom calls to catch up or to speak to other people.” (Q: Female, 22) In the literature on support around mental health and wellbeing, Cortina et al. (2020a) suggested that parents and carers can help children and young people by recognising and having honest conversations about any concerns, to help them understand what is happening, and promoting healthy routines at home, while teachers are also vital in promoting positive mental health in relation to school. However, 55.3% of care leavers responding to our questionnaire, did not receive support for their mental health and wellbeing (however it is important to note that not all care leavers in this study required mental health and wellbeing support). Of these, some care leavers said that they did not need support and were able to manage on their own or knew that their personal advisor would be there for them if they needed support: “I had all my workers checking up on me to make sure I was okay and that was helpful just to have someone to chat to, I was given numbers to people that could support me.” (Q: Male, 19)