I am not writing this petition because mental health is a political talking point. I am writing it because I have lived what happens when mental health services do not listen, when referrals are delayed or lost, when people are passed from team to team, when children are left waiting, and when help arrives only after someone has reached breaking point.

I have spent around 14 years struggling with my mental health. My story began when I was a child. I experienced adverse childhood experiences from a young age, experiences that had a profound impact on me and my mental health. By the age of 12, I entered care after years of experiences no child should have had to endure.

Being in care meant being moved around while I was already trying to cope with everything I was carrying. Different placements, different environments, different adults, different professionals and different expectations. I was trying to grow up and understand myself while simultaneously trying to survive what I had already experienced. Stability was something I desperately needed, but instead I often had to adapt, start again and explain myself all over again.

That pattern followed me into mental health services. I was moved between teams and services. I experienced misdiagnosis, delayed referrals and referrals being lost. I repeatedly had to explain myself, my circumstances and my struggles to different people. Imagine being a child in crisis and having to keep starting again. Imagine finally telling someone you are not okay, only to be passed somewhere else. Imagine waiting for help while knowing that your mental health is getting worse.

I made multiple attempts on my life from as young as 10 years old. I was struggling from childhood, yet I felt ignored by CAMHS until I reached 18. Think about that. A child can be struggling so severely that they are attempting to end their life, yet still spend years trying to be heard.

Eventually, those struggles led to two separate life-threatening situations. Twice, I reached a point where my life was in serious danger, and one of those situations happened while I was already under mental health care. I will never forget that. Because it leaves me asking a question that I believe our mental health system needs to answer: what does somebody have to do to be heard if being under mental health services, desperately struggling and reaching a life-threatening crisis still isn't enough?

While I was under CAMHS, I also struggled severely with eating. I felt ignored when I desperately needed help. My physical health deteriorated until I became dangerously unwell and had to be rushed to hospital for emergency refeeding. I became so physically unwell that I was close to cardiac arrest. Again, I survived.

But why did I have to get that close to death before things became serious enough? Why should anyone have to?

This is not an attack on individual mental health workers. I know that nurses, doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, support workers and other frontline professionals are working incredibly hard in circumstances that are already incredibly difficult. Many are doing everything they can with the resources available to them. The problem is the system around them. When there are not enough staff, beds, crisis services, community services, funding or early-intervention options to meet the level of need, people suffer and professionals are left trying to carry an impossible burden.

And my story is not unique.

In England, around 4.13 million people were in contact with NHS-funded secondary mental health, learning disability and autism services during 2024/25, including around 1.22 million people under 18. That was just over 7% of the population and the highest proportion since the data series began in 2016/17. The mental health service population in England increased by 45.6%, from around 2.76 million people a year in 2015–17 to around 4.02 million in 2022–24. These figures show just how much demand has grown.

The latest English data showed a median of 37 days between referral and second contact in adult community mental health services, while the 90th percentile was 169 days. That means one in ten people waited longer than 169 days for that second contact. Waiting for help should never become part of somebody's illness.

For children and young people with eating disorders, the situation is also deeply concerning. In the quarter ending May 2026, around 73% of urgent referrals were seen within one week, compared with the 95% standard, while around 74% of routine referrals were seen within four weeks, also below the 95% standard. I know personally what it can mean when someone struggling to eat does not receive the help they need quickly enough.

In 2024, 6,190 suicides were registered in England and Wales. The suicide rate in Wales was 15.7 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with 11.1 per 100,000 in England. Behind every one of those numbers is a human being. A person with people who love them. A family. A partner. A friend. A community. A future that could have been.

Government analysis found that around 59% of suicides among people aged 18–74 in England between 2022 and 2024 occurred among people who were in the mental health service population, even though that population represented around 10% of people aged 18–74. These figures should make us stop and ask whether we are doing enough to support people before they reach the point where their lives are at risk.

Across Wales, 7,538 mental health referrals were recorded between April and June 2026, including 1,177 referrals for people under 18. Across Scotland, 91.2% of children and young people referred to CAMHS began treatment within 18 weeks in the latest figures. Different nations have different services, standards and ways of measuring demand, but the underlying message is the same: mental health support matters, timely access matters, and people cannot be expected to wait indefinitely while their lives are falling apart.

This is bigger than one person. Bigger than one service. Bigger than one NHS trust. This is a national problem that requires national action.

We need major, sustained, long-term investment in mental health services, with funding that reflects the scale of need rather than treating mental health as something that can be funded after everything else. We need more mental health staff and proper workforce planning, so frontline professionals have the time, resources and capacity to provide safe and consistent care instead of constantly trying to work beyond capacity.

We need more crisis teams and properly resourced crisis resolution and home-treatment services, so people can receive urgent support before their situation becomes life-threatening. We need stronger community mental health services so people can receive meaningful support before they reach crisis. We need enough inpatient capacity for people who genuinely need hospital care. We need faster assessments, faster diagnoses, faster treatment and shorter waits, backed by meaningful national standards and transparent reporting.

We need better support for children, young people and adults, because mental health does not suddenly become less important when somebody turns 18. A child should not have to become an adult before their suffering is taken seriously, and an adult should not have to reach crisis before they are offered meaningful support. Whether someone is 10, 18, 30, 50 or 80, they deserve to be heard, supported and treated.

Too many people fall through the gap between children's and adult services. Turning 18 should not mean suddenly losing support, starting again, joining another waiting list or having to prove all over again that you are unwell enough to deserve help. People need continuity of care when they transition between services, not another cliff edge.

And adults deserve the same urgency. Mental health difficulties do not stop at 18. Adults can lose jobs, homes, relationships, education, financial security and their physical health while waiting for support. Parents, partners, carers and families can also be left carrying enormous responsibility while trying to keep someone safe. Mental health care should be available when people need it, not only when they have deteriorated enough to meet an arbitrary threshold.

We need better eating-disorder services and earlier intervention, so people are supported before their physical health becomes dangerously compromised. We need better-funded mental health charities and voluntary organisations that provide vital support when statutory services cannot meet every need. We need better support for families and carers who are often left trying to keep someone safe while struggling to understand where they can turn.

We need better coordination between GPs, NHS mental health services, crisis teams, hospitals, social care, schools, emergency services and charities. People should not have to repeatedly tell their story because one service does not communicate with another. A person should not disappear into a gap between services simply because nobody knows who is responsible for supporting them.

We also need mental health education in schools, workplaces and communities. People should understand mental health, know how to recognise when someone is struggling and know where to seek help. Early intervention should not be something we talk about only after another tragedy. It should be at the heart of mental health policy.

We need better mental health support in workplaces, with employers equipped to recognise distress and support staff appropriately. People should not have to choose between protecting their mental health and keeping their job, income or financial security.

We need proper support for children and young people experiencing bullying, trauma, family difficulties, identity struggles and other experiences that can have a profound impact on mental health. We need support to reach people early rather than waiting until their difficulties become severe enough to meet a crisis threshold.

And we need proper accountability. Government should be transparent about mental health funding, staffing, waiting times, access to treatment, inpatient capacity, crisis services, children's services, adult services and outcomes. We need to know whether the money being invested is actually reaching the people who need support, whether services have enough capacity, where people are falling through the gaps and what is being done when the system fails them.

Because I know what happens when people are left waiting. I know what happens when someone is repeatedly passed between services. I know what happens when a child is struggling and does not feel heard. I know what happens when mental health deteriorates while everyone waits for the next referral, the next appointment, the next assessment or the next service.

And I know what happens when someone finally reaches a point where their life is in danger.

I survived that.

But I refuse to accept that survival should be the measure of whether somebody deserved help. Nobody should have to attempt to end their life before their suffering is taken seriously. Nobody should have to become critically physically unwell before their eating disorder is taken seriously. Nobody should have to reach crisis before they qualify for care. Nobody should have to prove that they are suffering enough.

A person should be listened to before they reach breaking point, not afterwards.

This petition is for everyone who has struggled with their mental health. It is for the parent terrified about their child. It is for the partner who lies awake wondering whether their loved one will make it through the night. It is for the friend who doesn't know what to say. It is for the person sitting on a waiting list wondering whether anyone remembers they are there. It is for the person who has been passed between services. It is for the person who has been told to wait. It is for the person who has been made to feel that they are not unwell enough. It is for the families who have watched someone they love deteriorate while waiting for support. And it is for the people who have lost someone.

For years, I felt like I was fighting two battles at once: fighting my own mental health while fighting to be heard by the system that was supposed to help me.

I do not want another child to experience that. I do not want another teenager to grow up believing that nobody will listen. I do not want another adult to reach breaking point because support was unavailable, delayed or simply not there. I do not want another family sitting beside a hospital bed wondering why help did not come sooner. I do not want another person reaching a life-threatening crisis before somebody finally decides their life matters.

I cannot change the years I spent waiting. I cannot change the services that failed me. I cannot change the child I was. I cannot take back the moments when I desperately needed somebody to listen and felt like nobody did.

But I can use the voice I have now.

And I am going to use it.

I am asking the Government, health leaders and decision-makers to stop treating mental health as an afterthought. Make mental health a genuine national priority. Fund it properly. Build the capacity people need. Invest before crisis. Listen before breaking point. Act before it is too late.

Because people are not waiting lists. People are not referral numbers. People are not statistics.

People are lives.

And I am living proof of what can happen when those lives are left waiting.

I survived something I should never have had to survive. I came dangerously close to losing my life. I know what it feels like to be the child who needed somebody to listen. I know what it feels like to keep asking for help while being passed around. I know what it feels like to wonder whether anyone actually sees you.

That is why I cannot stay silent now.

I am speaking for the child I once was. I am speaking for the teenager who was waiting. I am speaking for the adult who is still waiting. I am speaking for the parent who is terrified. I am speaking for the partner who does not know where to turn. I am speaking for the family who is exhausted. I am speaking for the person who has been told they are not unwell enough. And I am speaking for the people who never got the chance to speak for themselves.

I am not asking you to sign this because you feel sorry for me.

I am asking you to sign because you believe people's lives are worth fighting for.

Sign it if you have ever struggled.

Sign it if someone you love has struggled.

Sign it if you have ever waited for help.

Sign it if you believe a child deserves to be heard before they become a crisis.

Sign it if you believe an adult deserves help before they reach breaking point.

Sign it if you believe families deserve support.

Sign it if you believe frontline workers deserve a system that actually gives them the resources to care for people properly.

Sign it because one day it could be you.

Or your child.

Or your partner.

Or your parent.

Or your best friend.

Or someone you haven't even met yet.

I cannot promise that signing one petition will fix everything overnight. But I can promise that I will not stop using my voice. I will not stop asking questions. I will not stop pushing for change. And I will not allow the things I survived to simply disappear into another statistic.

I want this heard. I want this taken seriously. And I want the people with the power to change the system to know that we are watching, we are listening and we are demanding better.

For years, I fought to survive.

Now I am fighting to make sure other people do not have to fight that hard just to be heard.

Let my story be more than a story of what went wrong. Let it be part of the reason we finally make it right.

Because mental health cannot wait for another crisis.

It cannot wait for another suicide.

It cannot wait for another child to break.

It cannot wait for another adult to lose everything.

It cannot wait for another family to receive a devastating phone call.

It cannot wait for another life to be lost before we decide that life mattered.

I survived.

And now I am using the voice I once struggled to find.

So please sign this petition. Share it. Talk about it. Send it to your friends, your family, your community, your representatives and the people who have the power to make change happen.

Don't just let this petition collect signatures. Help us make it impossible to ignore.

Let them hear us.

Let them hear the children waiting.

Let them hear the adults struggling.

Let them hear the families begging for help.

Let them hear the frontline workers asking for the resources they need.

Let them hear every person who has ever been told to wait while their world was falling apart.

Mental Health Can't Wait.

It's time to listen. It's time to invest. It's time to rebuild. It's time to act.

Nobody should have to nearly die before they are finally heard.