Page 14 - Community Living Magazine 31 - 2

ow a ew o is li e ack

A catastrophic physical and mental deterioraton when their son was
detained in an Assessment and Treatment Unit lef the parents of
Mathew Garnet fghtng to win his life back. sa elle a ne describes
how eventually they won the batle, how it could have been avoided in

the frst place, and how happy Mathew is today.

a ine ou sel ace own assessment. The psychiatrist in turn professionals contnually misinterpreted
I es aine an ein in ec e a ains recommended an inpatent assessment. Mathew’s behaviours, calling him
ou will wi a su s ance a e i es Nothing was available locally and we ‘callous’ and statng that he had a
ou. a ine eelin a e in ou were told that the best place would be ‘conduct disorder’. We were told his
o a uall allin o e o St Andrew’s Hospital. ‘freezing’ was not ‘autstc catatonia’ as
in o le a an con usion. ow woul had been previously suspected, but was
ou eel ow woul ou e ave However, he was not referred ‘demand-avoidance’.
immediately – months tcked by without
Now imagine being a 15-year-old boy anything happening. Mathew’s behaviour REACTIVE
with autsm, mild learning difcultes, deteriorated further and the psychiatrist These misunderstandings seemed to
severe generalised anxiety, OCD, ADHD said, “If things get too bad call 999”. justfy containment, seclusion, routne
and receptve language difcultes, We resisted for as long as we could untl prone-restraint and forcible injectons
being held down by up to six adults. we reached crisis point and had no choice. with antpsychotc medicaton, medicaton
Imagine this happening to you at least We made the call and he was taken to that we now know he didn’t need, didn’t
every two weeks, without any prospect Accident and Emergency where he was help him get beter and could lead to
of an end or even understanding why. sectoned under the Mental Health Act. complicatons for his health. The hospital
The psychiatrist told us this secton would atempted only to manage the resultng
I’m Isabelle, Mathew’s mum. Mathew last 12 weeks, during which tme Mathew behaviours rather than understand and
is the 15-year-old boy whose life was as I would receive autsm-specifc assessment, treat their cause. The lack of purpose
have just described while he was detained treatment and care. Instead, Mathew behind this approach was captured in the
in St Andrews Hospital in Northampton. endured the most traumatc years of his fact that no discharge plan had ever been
Mathew’s sectoning and admission to young life. From the age 14 to 16 he lived drafed. Mathew seemed to be locked
an Assessment and Treatment Unit (ATU) ‘under lock and key’ with catastrophic and into a one-size-fts-all reactve approach
could have been predicted and prevented. devastatng consequences. We will regret that made no reasonable adjustments for
The catastrophic physical and mental this decision for the rest of our lives. his neurodisability.
deterioraton he endured could have been
avoided. The enormous fnancial cost to We have learnt a great deal over the last However horrendous this two-year
the NHS and to the tax payer could have two years. ATUs are the worst possible experience has been, Mathew is one of
been saved. The fact that Mathew’s environment for people with autsm and/ the ‘lucky’ ones: we fought tooth and nail
sectoning could have been prevented or learning disabilites, for many reasons. to get him out. The fght concluded in the
isn’t only our opinion, it was a fnding The sensory overload alone makes a Channel 4 Dispatches television
from the case review commissioned by hospital environment unbearably painful. documentary on Channel 4, Under Lock
former Care Minister Alistair Burt. Being ripped away from all that you know and Key. But rather than focus on what
The review also concluded that and all who love you is devastatng for any doesn’t work, I’m happy to tell you there
Mathew’s was not an isolated case. child, but so much more so for someone is a beter way…
with autsm and learning disabilites who
CHALLENGES is terrifed of any change in routne. Within 24 hours of leaving the ATU,
At the age of 14, the challenges For the estmated 70% of people with Mathew was out in the community. He is
Mathew faced because of his autsm who sufer from anxiety, being no longer contained, no longer restrained,
neurodisability became more pronounced. contained can only exacerbate anxiety no longer secluded and no longer forcibly
He began ‘freezing’: holding rigid and fear. Worse stll, the rise in anxiety injected with ant-psychotc medicaton.
positons for several minutes, unable to leads to a downward spiral of negatve He is safe, happy, healthy and learning.
‘snap out of it’. Although Mathew always behaviour and a vicious cycle of His personal profle of strengths and
had echolalia (repeated speech) the over-medicaton. difcultes are now understood.
nature of his self-talk appeared to Autsm-trained staf work positvely and
change, his behaviour became increasingly Beyond the damage caused by an proactvely to support Mathew to
challenging to himself and to others. inappropriate environment, Mathew manage challenges he faces. They use
The independent psychologist working also sufered because of the lack communicaton friendly strategies (such
with him in his residental school understanding about autsm or learning as visual support and allowing extra
raised the possibility that he might disabilites, from both the medical processing tme) to give him the best
be experiencing psychotc episodes professionals to the unqualifed staf chance of success. His care staf have
and recommended a full psychiatric on the ward. For example, the medical taken the tme to fnd out and care about

12 Vol 31 No 2 | Winter 2017 o uni Living www.cl-initatves.co.uk