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Mental health organisations have \u201cfailed to acknowledge\u201d the risk of violence from a minority of people with severe mental illnesses, the chief executive of Mind has said ahead of the closure of the inquiry into the Nottingham attacks.<\/p>\n
Dr Sarah Hughes, who has led mental health charity Mind for four years and has worked in the sector for almost four decades, said charities had shied away from addressing the risk of violence due to the fact it had increased the stigma and harassment around people with mental health conditions.<\/p>\n
The inquiry into the Nottingham attacks is examining the events leading up to 13 June 2023, when 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O\u2019Malley-Kumar, and 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates, were fatally stabbed by Valdo Calocane, who was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.<\/p>\n
In 2024, Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order after admitting three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and three counts of attempted murder.<\/p>\n
The public inquiry has heard evidence from various local authorities, including health professionals and police officers, as well as Calocane\u2019s family, in order to assess the \u201cevents, acts and omissions\u201d that led to the killings.<\/p>\n
The inquiry heard how Calocane had committed a string of violent incidents in the years before the attacks, repeatedly refused to take medication, and was sectioned four times in the space of two years. During her evidence, Calocane\u2019s mother described the mental health system as \u201cso broken\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Celeste Calocane giving evidence to the inquiry in May.<\/span> Photograph: The Nottingham Inquiry\/PA<\/p>\n Speaking exclusively to the Guardian, Hughes said charities specialising in mental health had to become \u201cmore comfortable\u201d with discussing the risk of violence that could exist from a minority of people with mental health illnesses.<\/p>\n Hughes\u2019s comments come after the charity Mind held a roundtable with experts in Westminster to discuss the role mental health services needed to play to keep the public and patients safe.<\/p>\n \u201cWe, as a charity sector, have failed to acknowledge that violence does happen in some circumstances,\u201d she said. \u201cAs a sector, [we] have held the narrative that the majority of people don\u2019t commit violent crime. However, some do and the consequences are grave.\u201d<\/p>\n Hughes added: \u201cMy feeling is that we haven\u2019t always been able to articulate the topic of violence and mental health well to the public and ultimately, we have softened the truth. Stigma and discrimination are incredibly harmful, however our efforts to reduce them have, at times, meant that some of the most difficult topics have been brushed under the carpet. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to bring together a wide range of experts and experiences to have an open and honest conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n Emma Webber, whose son Barnaby was killed by Calocane, said she welcomed the statement by Hughes. \u201cI do feel like danger to others has been almost deliberately quietened down in the conversation in the past,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Webber said there had not been enough acknowledgment from mental health organisations of the risk of violence.<\/p>\n \u201cIt could be a really powerful voice for the charities to have that difficult conversation, and to not be fearful of saying about the risks of violence toward others, and that people that are mentally ill, like Calocane, can and do go on to kill.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously the vast majority of people with mental health issues in this country are completely safe \u2026 but if somebody\u2019s dangerous, they\u2019re dangerous.<\/p>\n \u201cHad the risks in Calocane\u2019s case been understood, then I genuinely believe we wouldn\u2019t be having this conversation today.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotionFree newsletter | Every weekday<\/p>\n Sign up to First Edition<\/span><\/p>\n Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Seena Fazel, a professor of forensic psychiatry at the University of Oxford who attended the event by Mind, said a minority of people with mental illnesses perpetrate violent acts and high-quality research on schizophrenia had \u201cconverged on the same picture\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople with schizophrenia do have an elevated risk of violence compared with the general population, even after accounting for socioeconomic factors, but the absolute risk is small. Only a minority will commit a serious violent act,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cThat risk increases when other factors are present, particularly drug or alcohol problems, a history of violence, or having been a victim of violence themselves. The important point is that treatments we already have, and which are widely available, can bring that risk down.\u201d<\/p>\n Hughes, who said she had experienced violence when she was a mental health practitioner from people experiencing psychosis, said many in the sector feared that addressing such issues could increase stigma and discrimination, and that could lead to dangerous health outcomes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are incredibly frightened of deepening that stigma and discrimination because we know how dangerous it can be,\u201d she said. \u201cThis could risk going back to a more restrictive approach. My view is that\u2019s not the answer, but stigma creates a pathway to that as being the only solution to this problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Hughes said this meant the sector had \u201cshied away\u201d from difficult conversations around violence. \u201cThe public, I think, are more ready [and] we\u2019ve got to get our act together,\u201d she said. \u201cEven within Mind there was a reluctance internally and we had to really talk it though.\u201d<\/p>\n Hughes said Mind is set to introduce its mental health strategy, which will call for better support and treatment for those with severe mental illnesses, as well as address matters of public safety.<\/p>\n This includes ensuring an adequate number of beds in hospitals, assertive outreach, and accountability and communication with services.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that by us having these conversations openly we can both make sure that the people we\u2019re advocating for know that we\u2019re doing this safely with their consent, but equally, the public and families and victims know that we recognise that we have to come together to solve this problem,\u201d Hughes said.<\/p>\n \u201cCrucially, there is a role for Mind \u2013 and the sector as a whole \u2013 to show that patient and public safety are not mutually exclusive. Both are possible if we want to change our mental health system so people can get the right care before or after reaching crisis point,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mental health organisations have \u201cfailed to acknowledge\u201d the risk of violence from a minority of people with severe mental illnesses, the chief executive of Mind has said ahead of the closure of the inquiry into the Nottingham attacks. Dr Sarah Hughes, who has led mental health charity Mind for four years and has worked in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[9083,689,4051,1860,37,1031,3059,736,1388],"class_list":{"0":"post-52117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-acknowledge","9":"tag-chief","10":"tag-failed","11":"tag-groups","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-mental","14":"tag-mind","15":"tag-risk","16":"tag-violence"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}