The number of people experiencing severe mental illnesses has become a serious cause of concern say the Royal College of Psychiatrists.  Now we have the impact of the second lockdown to make matters a whole lot worse.  Before Covid there were 17 people a day taking their own lives in this country; an estimate for right now is 34.   As exclusive figures shown to Sky News by a Wirral-based charity the number of people struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts has "doubled" from last year.  Doubled!

The mental health teams are not coping and understandably so but if people like me, trained Complementary Therapists can provide therapies for these people before they get to that stage or while they are waiting to be seen surely it will reduce the stress on our NHS and the mental stress for the patient.    And no I'm not a Doctor but I don't need to be a doctor to know personally what depression feels like and suicidal ideations.  

I set up an online support group approximately 5yrs ago for people struggling with their mental health or have loved ones who suffer.  This in itself has been incredible to watch grow and become what it is today.  A group of amazing people sharing their struggles and helping each other.  I have received so many messages over the years letting me know how much the group has helped them.

During this time I retrained and I am now a qualified Complementary Therapist and I provide treatments such as Reflexology, Aromatherapy, Reiki and Massage.  While doing my training I gave the people in the group free treatments as part of my case studies.  The outcomes were outstanding.  The changes that people felt from the therapy was in a lot of cases life changing.  It was because of this that I decided to set up my "not for profit" company Karma Times CIC.  

I am trying to raise funds so that I can treat people struggling with their mental health and are on a low income.  I am also putting together an anthology currently which contains poems written by people who are struggling and also by the loved ones of people suffering.  This is to raise money and importantly awareness.

But here lies my problem.  I am now unable to practice at all which I understand giving the current Covid situation.  It does bother me though that people like chiropractors etc are still able to work.  I agree that for some people a complementary therapy is a luxury but to a lot of people it is so much more.   I personally believe that I can provide a safe reflexology treatment with the proper PPE and government guidelines in place to people struggling with their emotional and mental health.  

During thess horrendous times Doctors should now be able to refer patients to people like me for people to see in the interim before going to a specialist or on a waiting list as many are.   Furthermore the Government should approve the funding for this to happen and ASAP.

I want to be able to help the people who need it, the people on the way to having an emotional crisis, the people who are thinking about suicide.  I need your help to help me do this.  We need Complementary Therapists to be able to provide certain therapies; to save lives.  We can all make a difference; every single one of us.

Please sign this petition and share amongst everyone you know and hopefully we can be part of the change that is needed right now.

Thank you for reading and for your help with this I am truly grateful.

Tracey Ward