“Bethany’s mum visited today to find her with hundreds of burst vessels around her face and eyes.”
Beth has been exposed to a known trigger, (relentlessly and for hours I suspect), seemingly with no strategies to prevent the impact of the trigger becoming harmful. As a result of experiencing unmanageable stress, she became distressed and used her clothes as ligatures. The bruising sounds like petechial haemorrhage to me.
No one told her parents that she had to be wrestled to the ground, stripped naked and dressed in ‘safety clothing’:
How can that be? How can a child put their lives in such peril and their parents NOT be notified?
Did she receive any medical attention? Was she medically assessed or was she only tackled to the ground, stripped naked injected with sedatives?
Is that really all the ‘care‘ that can be managed for £13,000 per week of taxpayers money?
Being in this suit sounds horrific, and since they leave it on for days, I can’t help but think they are using it as a punishment. Do they really think this will deter her from being autistic and distressed in future and ‘learn to behave differently?’
I can’t help but wonder if the staff at St Andrew’s lack the education they deserve to such a mind-boggling degree?
This ‘care’ is not necessary. It is traumatising and abusive. Beth needs to feel safe and this could start TODAY, in the cell.
Reading through the incidents, it could sound as though exacerbating her difficulties (or allowing them to escalate) will allow them to label them differently and ‘prove’ that the ‘care’ she is receiving is ‘necessary’.
To onlookers, who only have part of the story, and lack wider knowledge, it could perhaps all be wrapped up with the message that this sort of treatment is necessary and inevitable. We can stop that by keeping the wider dialogue going and keep informing all of Beth’s wider story and information about PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance).
Matt Hancock (Secretary of State for Health and Social Care) replied to Bethany’s Dad to say “Jeremy, it’s heartbreaking. I’m working on it right now.” Should you wish to tweet him you can do so using this link.
It’s not just about Beth.
The situation this weekend was triggered by the distress of another young person. Someone else’s child being brought, in extreme distress, to be locked up in a cell near to Beth. I wonder if they are in a torture suit too? I wonder if they have family that can visit? Cards to receive?
I wonder if they think the world has forgotten they exist.
Follow Jeremy, Bethany’s Dad here. Don’t be afraid to ‘like’ the tweets as this indicates to all “I love Beth’s strength”. For the sake of all the Beth’s out there please keep this story alive.
Remember, You can help:
Beth likes jokes and would love to receive cards. Keep them cheerful! Send them to Jeremy, Beth’s Dad, 31 Oaklands Avenue, Harborne. Birmingham, B17 9TU.
You can email jokes to Bethany’s dad at imbethanysdad@gmail.com
Read more on the use of restraints here.
For the sake of Bethany, and all the other children, young people and adults receiving such inappropriate ‘care’ please keep sharing this.
It Must Be Mum 
I may have missed some of the story here but this is truly heart breaking and barbaric – this place was documented on tv and needs to shut down? Can you not get her out of there?
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is happening right now, today, to Bethany. She needs carefully planned care to feel and be safe and then she needs to be supported to live – not exist – live, outside of this setting. She is more than capable, with support and care. There are a couple more blogs that give more of the detail. Dont forget to send her a card – keep it fun!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am so shocked. I worked with Beth for a short time, and when supported sensitively and correctly , she was a pleasure. Very few trigger moments and once she trusted and liked you these were managed. This should not happen, the damage this will be doing is irreversible. I just want to hug her. Wish there was something I could do to help. Myself and a few colleagues ‘got’ Beth , I wish, as a team, we could still be around her now and work with her and her wonderful parents to give her the right support and love to allow her to thrive.
Thinking of you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for this xxx
LikeLiked by 1 person
The use of “safety suits” is a common abuse in British mental health units. I have heard of them being left on female patients (one an adolescent, one an adult) during their periods on two separate occasions in two separate units, with them not being allowed access to underwear or sanitary protection. One of them was anorexic and at this point her eating disorder was getting worse, and being severely underweight will mean you don’t menstruate, which may be seen as an advantage in this particular set of circumstances. They need to find better ways of dealing with self-harm, but not running a mental-health unit like a penal institution must be one of them.
LikeLiked by 2 people
unimaginable – the survivors must be so traumatised, this must casue PTSD in some?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just had a notification to this post as someone liked my comment. The person with anorexia I was talking about was Claire Greaves, who subsequently took her own life in another locked unit. The case was widely reported in the news and on the MH blogosphere. (The other, one of the young people from Hull who were sent away from home after the local NHS weekday inpatient unit closed, has since recovered and is in university now.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Heart breaking I don’t do Twitter but follow what I can hear and share on Facebook .
LikeLiked by 2 people
thank you
LikeLiked by 1 person
Utterly Heartbreaking x
LikeLiked by 1 person
I haven’t read all of the blog post that have been written yet.
But wanted to say from a mother of a 14 year old with ASD, ADHD and Anxiety whos currently school refusing and a 5 year old with no diagnosis yet who discribes school to feel like being locked up and not let out till home time. I have and still get blamed for my children’s issues because they hold it together so well at school. This blog is amazing and its brilliant to know i am not alone.
LikeLiked by 2 people