Did you know that people with mental health difficulties are
at much greater risk of being victims of crime than the general
population? They are five times more
likely to be victims of assault (males three times more likely and females 10
times more likely), and are more likely than the general population to be
victimised by someone they know. Not
only that, but when they are victimised they generally perceive the crime as
more serious, have greater support needs, find the criminal justice system more
stressful and are less likely to have their support needs met.
These alarming statistics all came from the report At Risk, Yet Dismissed, which was
published by the charities Mind and Victim Support last year. They conducted a large research project, in
conjunction with some London universities, to find out about people’s experiences
of crime, attitudes towards seeking help after being victimised, who they
sought help from (if anyone), what the barriers and facilitators were, and
their experiences of help-seeking. Although
some positive experiences were disclosed, overall this report presents yet more
bad news for people with mental health difficulties.
One of the most notable findings is the fact that there
appears to be a ‘culture of disbelief’, whereby people with mental health
problems are not seen as credible when reporting crimes. Sadly this actually seems to be reinforced by
the very piece of guidance that exists to ensure victims of crime get the
support they need: the Code of Practice
for Victims of Crime states that vulnerable people (including those with mental
health problems) should be considered for special measures to give them extra
support whilst involved in the criminal justice system. However, it states that
this is the case for mentally unwell people not because the experience will be
more challenging for them, but because they may not be able to give such good
evidence due to their condition!
The report provides extensive qualitative data around
people’s experiences of help seeking (or not!).
examples of findings were that people were more likely to seek help if
they had a strong social network to support them, were less likely to report to
the police if they had previous poor experience with them, more likely to
report if police officers were more accessible in the community, and
appreciated things like empathy, time, being believed and being actively
listened to when reporting crimes and seeking help.
The final finding I will note here is that, amongst people
with mental health problems, those most at risk of crime were people who
engaged poorly with services, used drugs and had a history of exhibiting
violent behaviour. This is valuable in
giving us clues as to where interventions to tackle the issue of victimisation
of people with mental health problems should be targeted.
Based on their findings, Mind and Victim Support make
several important recommendations. These
include building collaborative relationships and frameworks for supporting
victims, training the police, mental health and community workforce to
effectively support these people, empowering people to protect themselves from
crime, supporting people to report crimes and seek help, and improving people’s
experience of the criminal justice system, including courts.
I’m really pleased to currently be working as part of a
project group in Dorset that is tackling the issues raised in this report. Our Recovery Education Centre has developed a
course called Staying Safe: Independence,
Choice and Control, which helps people to identify ways they can keep
themselves safe and to develop personal safety plans. In the future we aim to provide this type of
education in small groups or 1:1 basis, for people that aren’t able to attend
the course, as well as providing more in-depth, individualised education and
support to those who need it. We are in
the process of collecting data to demonstrate the need for these interventions
in the area, which should help us to obtain funding to continue the good work. Dorset Police has developed improved mental
health training for their staff, and we plan to implement specialised training
within mental health services too in the future. There are so many other things that can be
done to address these issues and I look forward to hopefully implementing more
and more of them over time.
And Dorset isn’t the only place that’s responding positively
and productively to the criminal victimisation of people with mental health
problems. The Mind report Police and Mental Health: Getting it Right
Locally highlights a number of organisations nationally who are demonstrating
good practice in this area. And this is
by no means an exhaustive account of the good work which is going on; no doubt
new innovations and interventions are popping up all the time. I look forward to hearing about more and more
good work, networking with those who are doing this and gaining inspiration for
work to do in my own locality.
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| Building an empathic, supportive workforce is vital in tackling these issues |
If we get the business of supporting people who are victims
of crime right, I hope this will also help us to tackle some of the general
issues surrounding mental health, such as tackling stigma, improving
collaborative working and treating people in respectful and individualised
ways. Central to this work is the
building of strong communities and improving people’s support networks, which
will be beneficial not only for victimisation projects but for society as a
whole. This, I hope, represents a big
step in the direction of helping people to recover from trauma and mental
distress, ang building a healthier, happier society.
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