Rethink: New service for siblings of people with severe mental illness launched

Rethink: New service for siblings of people with severe mental illness launched

Rethink: New service for siblings of people with severe mental illness launched

A new support and information service for siblings of people with severe mental illness is being launched on 17th November.

The Rethink Siblings Network will enable siblings to give and receive support and advice from other siblings via an online discussion forum. There will be dedicated information pages for siblings on Rethink’s website as well as a weekly blog where siblings can share their personal stories.

It is a known fact that mental illness impacts the whole family but siblings have been a previously neglected group. Sisters, in particular, have voiced frustration at the lack of services currently available.

Rethink surveyed its members to help shape this new, much-needed, service. There was a clear feeling that information and support for siblings is lacking. Alarmingly, while 80% of respondents said their main source of information was the NHS, 39% said that they didn’t find it helpful.

Siblings are crying out for information on:

  • What happens after parents become elderly / die
  • How someone’s mental health condition affects their siblings
  • Information on legal issues
  • How to improve their relationship with their sibling
  • Information on the links between genetics and severe mental illness

Rethink received the following comments:

“I just want to meet up with other siblings and explore the different feelings I have experienced over the years”

“[I’d like] counselling to say not to feel guilty about being well and to live my life too”

“I am not involved with supporting my brother at present…but I am very concerned that I have the ability to support him in the future, especially as my parents get older”

Lucy Canning, 36, a Rethink member whose younger brother has had schizophrenia for the last ten years, worked with Rethink to create the Siblings Network. She said: “The impact on him and the family was immense. We had no comprehension of what schizophrenia was, we all wondered how we could have stopped him getting ill, and we had no idea how best to support him.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

  • Sibling case studies are available, including the founder of the network, Lucy Canning.
  • 264 questionnaires were completed
  • 30 per cent of the siblings who responded had no other brother or sister
  • Schizophrenia was the most common diagnosis (53 per cent)
  • The highest number of respondents were in the 41 – 65 age group (41 per cent), closely followed by the 26 – 40 age group,(38 per cent)
  • No funding has been received for the Siblings Network

About Rethink

Rethink, the leading national mental health membership charity, works to help everyone affected by severe mental illness recover a better quality of life. We aim to provide hope and empowerment through effective services and support to all those who need us and campaign for change through greater awareness and understanding.

For further information on the charity and its work, visit: www.rethink.org or call 0845 456 0455.

The Mental Health Shop is an online resource for mental health publications, leaflets, booklets, videos, DVDs and more. Jointly founded in 2006 by Mental Health Media and Rethink, the Mental Health Shop is funded with the kind support of the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales. Visit www.mentalhealthshop.org

Working together to help everyone affected by severe mental illness recover a better quality of life.

Phone: 020 7330 9129
Fax: 020 7330 9102

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