Stuff co.nz 5 June 2021 – CECILE MEIER
Family First Comment: Perhaps the politicians should focus on problems (like excess incarceration of children) that DO exist, rather than things like banning ‘conversion therapy’ that DON’T actually exist!
Priorities and facts matter.
Vulnerable young children are being locked in small rooms in mental health hospitals for days at a time, a practice that has drawn condemnation from experts.
Between the ages of 15 and 17, Jane, who suffered PTSD, anxiety and depression after she was sexually assaulted and lost friends to suicide, was admitted multiple times to a child and adolescent unit.
Each time, she was repeatedly placed in seclusion because she was a risk to herself, she says.
Now in her early 20s, Jane still finds it difficult to talk about her seclusion experience despite years of therapy to process it and other trauma she suffered.
She is among scores of young people who have endured being put in seclusion in New Zealand in the last five years.
Seclusion is when a person is locked in a room on their own. It is meant to be a “last resort” measure, for as short a time as possible, to protect someone from injuring themselves or others.
READ MORE: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/125345915/outrage-over-children-as-young-as-9-locked-up-alone-for-days-in-mental-health-hospitals
