GO AHEAD! Mental Health Campaign supported by Ed Miliband #CarryGobySeanKellz #FutureGroupNG via @myentertain9jar

COMMUNITY gardening projects are being funded by The Health Lottery as Ed Miliband backs our Mental Health Campaign

Ed Miliband and his fellow Doncaster MP Rosie Winterton[PA]

A heartfelt plea from a schoolgirl convinced Labour leader Ed Miliband of the urgent need for mental health services in schools so young people can get help as early as possible.
Three children in every classroom currently have a diagnosable mental illness, with many not getting the treatment and support they need to develop and fulfil their potential.
The huge stigma still attached to mental health often stops young people talking about their problems for fear of bullying and increases the likelihood that they will become involved with crime or drugs.
So it took great courage for a girl to write to the leader of the Labour Party to tell him about her struggle to get the help she needed while a pupil at West Bridgford School in Nottinghamshire, which his wife Justine Thornton had attended.
Mr Miliband has backed the Sunday Express's award-winning Crusade for Better Mental Health, pledging to include mental health reforms in his manifesto for the general election in May next year.
During a visit to a community project funded by The Health Lottery in Doncaster he said: "I talked about mental health in my party conference speech and got a letter from a girl who had been to Justine's former school.
"She wrote to thank me for raising the issue and then told me about her own experiences, which in a way shows why the Sunday Express is right to make this a big campaign, as she did not get the early help that could have made a difference to her.

There is a massive amount that we have to do to solve the challenges we face, which the Sunday Express has rightly highlighted. This requires not just health services to do its job, it requires communities and society as a whole to do its job

Ed Miliband

"I have since met her in the House of Commons and she said if she could have got help sooner she could have avoided having to stay in an institution. What does this require? It requires awareness by teachers and others and a school that is going to be responsive to these issues.
"There is a massive amount that we have to do to solve the challenges we face, which the Sunday Express has rightly highlighted. This requires not just health services to do its job, it requires communities and society as a whole to do its job."
A taskforce being led by Sir Stephen O'Brien, chairman of Barts Health NHS Trust, has been drawing up a strategic plan for mental health reforms if Labour is elected to government next year.
Mr Miliband said: "We are absolutely committed to driving forward this mental health agenda. Some excellent work is being done by Stephen O'Brien on exactly what contribution needs to be made by the wider community. A massive cultural change is needed."
The Labour leader joined The Health Lottery founder Richard Desmond for the visit to a Green Gym project run by The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) in the South Yorkshire town last Thursday.
Green Gyms allow communities to socialise at the same time as engaging in outdoor physical activity such as tree-planting, dead hedging, canal digging and creating wildlife areas or food gardens.
While improving green spaces volunteers can overcome issues such as anxiety and loneliness and regain confidence and self-esteem after suffering from depression.

Ed Miliband and The Health Lottery’s Richard Desmond [JONATHAN BUCKMASTER]

The Health Lottery has given more than £1.8million to 49 similar projects run by TCV across the UK, including nearly £88,000 awarded last week to two Green Gyms for volunteers from Doncaster, Sheffield and Barnsley.
A volunteer who overcame her mental illness at a Green Gym in Camden, north London, has gone on to become a project officer now helping others.
Former school teacher Jacquie Cox, 52, suffered from depression, stress and panic attacks after several traumatic experiences in 2010. In a short space of time her closest friend died, she was made homeless and was bullied at work. After finding a new home and being advised to leave her job by a counsellor she struggled to cope with her mental health issues.
JACQUIE said: "I was suffering from a general feeling of worthlessness. I did not want to talk to anyone or go out, I just sat in the corner of my room. I did not even want to go out to the shops.
"Someone told me about a Green Gym near my home and I dismissed it, thinking it would be people swinging around on bars but one day I went and when they explained what it was about I thought it was great.
"Everyone was friendly, there was no pressure, you could do as much or as little as you wanted.

Volunteers Terry and Janet Plant, Julie Hopes, John Hume, Ed Miliband, MP Rosie Winterton [MARK MOODY]

 

"I started out as a volunteer and it was great knowing I had something to do two days a week. As I got my confidence back and felt better physically through being outside working in the fresh air I was able to think about applying for work again.
"Then I was offered a job three days a week as Haringey Green Gym project officer last December, which will let me help other people in the situation I was in."
During the visit to the Green Gym in Doncaster last week The Health Lottery founder Mr Desmond, owner of Express Newspapers, said: "I think projects like this are tremendous. When we started three years ago this is exactly what we envisaged."
Mr Miliband added: "If we are going to solve the health needs of the nation it is this kind of intervention that is going to make a really big difference."
NEED HELP NOW?
- Combat Stress, the veterans’ mental health charity, can be contacted 24 hours on 0800 138 1619, combatstress.org.uk
- SANEline is on 0845 767 8000 between 6pm and 11pm.sane.org.uk
- MIND infoline is on 0300 123 3393, Monday to Friday, 9am and 6pm. mind.org.uk