Help my little brother. Let down and suffering mentally.

Hi, my name is Alys and I am fund-raising for my little brother who is now 29 years old. He is wise, loving, extremely good at chess and has the best, most eclectic taste in music!

My brothers life has been extremely tumultuous and challenging to say the least. He was classed as a ‘naughty kid’ in school and very much inhabited that persona out of anger, confusion and being misunderstood.

He was later diagnosed with ADHD in his mid-twenties. He was in and out of jobs and struggled to function in society and maintain any friendships or relationships. He has also experienced a lot of traumas throughout his life and consequently developed alcohol and drug dependency as a way to self-medicate and numb his feelings.

He was first hospitalised nearly 3 years ago under Greater Manchester Mental Health and was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. He became particularly erratic, irrational and unpredictable. He struggles with severe depression, anxiety and paranoia. It has been extremely challenging because he can flip from loving and vulnerable to very scary and aggressive.

As a family, we have been fighting so so hard for years now to get him the right help and support that he needs. It has been really difficult and we have hit so many brick walls and been let down many times. We dread to think what happens to those who don’t have a family or loved ones to fight and advocate for them. My brother is a very complex person who is massively suffering. He is confused and just wants stability and connection.

He has been in and out of hospital for nearly 3 years. The social care system in this country seems to be seriously underfunded and he isn’t getting the help that he needs. Every time we feel like we are getting somewhere and being taken seriously, we are told that peoples hands are tied. He has slipped through nets all of his life and continues to do so.

If we could raise enough money to get him some help privately, it would be unbelievably life changing for him. We have been told that he needs to be in an intensive psychiatric unit, but we can’t get him on the right section to be eligible. He also can’t go into an adult rehab where he would learn life skills, tools and resources because he has struggles with addiction. In this day and age, we know that trauma, addiction and mental illness are all interlinked.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a75b781ed915d6faf2b5276/Co-occurring_mental_health_and_alcohol_drug_use_conditions.pdf

PUBLIC HEALTH ENGLAND DOCUMENT PUBLISHED 2017 - laying out a 5 year forward plan for people with co-occuring conditions.

My brother is under a section 117, which means legally they have to provide a roof over his head to ‘prevent relapse and maintain stability after leaving a mental health hospital.’ Instead, my brother has been unlawfully treated despite his psychological condition and as a result has been left homeless. Unfortunately, the NHS don't treat people with co-occurring conditions like my brother. It is crucial that we as a society make a joint effort to destigmatise the topic of addiction and globalise treatment for all; we must aim to treat the human, not the condition.

This fight is now causing us all to crumble.

Please share our story and help raise awareness for people like my brother, we would be incredibly grateful.

We intend to use whatever funds we can raise to go towards a stay in a private hospital that treats co-occurring illnesses such as addiction, psychosis and schizoaffective disorder. With the right help, he could live a contented life and have a future.

On the 20th June 2024, the care quality commission served a s29A warning notice on Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust for “Lack of effective governance systems, ligature risks and fire safety concerns, medicines not managed safely, ward security systems not consistently keeping people safe, infection prevention and control risks and staff not up to date with mandatory training.”

https://www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RXV