Mental Health-Demand the Welsh government give those suffering from Eating Disorder's the help they need.

This is a petition to gain better mental health services within Wales for anybody suffering from a disorder such as an eating disorder. This petition aims to:

1. Gain mental health training for midwives in Wales

2. Develop better services for people with Eating disorders, new or recurring, within Wales.

My story:
I was an Anorexic in remission for the past 3/4 years (I am now encountering my second battle with the illness). I was previously ignored for 6 months by Dr's and GP's, 4 years ago, whilst I repeatedly complained I was unwell and my issue with my weight was spiraling (weighing around 5 stone at that time). I received no help and the answer "we don't have access to specialist services in North Wales and therefore we can not help you". Through my mothers persistence with my family dr, he finally took notice and worked out my BMI had reached 12, which is extremely dangerous and low, and without warning or helped offered first I was sectioned against my will, and taken away, where i ensured a two week stay in a facility for those with a variety of mental health issues where I was ignored, made to eat alone whilst being watched and monitored whilst I went to the toilet (I didn't see a dr or a dietician for a week and originally was declined any food which defeated the purpose of my stay). I was basically treated like an animal. I was not helped because I suffered from Anorexia, a mental health condition, I was only helped due to a physical condition and the effect my weight was having on my organs such as I was at high risk of a heart attack.

Upon release, I was left to battle my way back to health with little or no help. I found remission and finally got my life back, going to university and seeing food as more than my enemy. However, in March 2016, I unexpectedly fell pregnant with my daughter, and due to extremely difficult circumstances and facing a difficult pregnancy completely alone my eating disorder returned. Throughout my pregnancy I asked for help and was open and honest about my condition. I was told there was no help for anybody like me as midwives in Wales currently do not or have not received mental health training and therefore I was often treated like an alien and told I should "just eat". 5 months after having my daughter, I am again in a position where I am more than struggling with my weight and am unable to access any help which is why I have decided to attempt to take some action. Upon taking myself to the Dr's I asked for some help, and sadly again I was told "as I'm aware there is nothing that can be done to help somebody like me and therefore upset and disheartened again I left. 

I am devastated every time I am told I would receive help for my issues if I lived over the border in England. I am upset every time I am looked at like an alien and told there is nothing that can be done to help people like me whilst I live in North Wales. Anorexia Nervosa is branded the biggest mental health killer and yet Dr's and anybody with any power to award me help doesn't understand the condition and like I said explains there is no help for because of where I live.

I so strongly feel that people like me, with eating disorders or any other mental health issue deserve the help we ask fo before our mental health effects our physical health, as it is not an easy thing for us to ask for at all and to be turned away is simply not good enough. We live in a society where we are all attempting to tackle the stigma of mental health and yet in Wales we fail to even recognise it as important within our care systems.

I, and members of my family, have been to the local MP, Carl Sargent, about this issue throughout my 4 year stint with Anorexia and it has failed to be acknowledged with a decent answer as to why we are lacking this care in Wales as it reached higher up in the government.

I would like to start this petition for anybody like me who is looking for help and just can't get it. We deserve it and I don't want to wait until I am unable to function, walk, or until I am close to death again to be good enough to help.

Please if you could take the time to sign my petition so I can return to re-raise this issue and hopefully I will be taken more seriously with the backing of others.

I am so worried that I am bringing my daughter up into a world where weight and social media are at such a high level of influence that girls feel the pressure to be thin constantly and yet if it develops into a disorder like mine there is no help. I am worried that there are many people like me who could end up unable to be there for their children because we are failed by the care system. 

Thank you for reading this and for signing my petition, it means more than you will know. 

Regards

Danielle