My disabled son needs 100,000 people

[helpingAsa]

Please help me find 100,000 friends for my disabled child

I registered a Government petition yesterday, to stop 41% of children in Hertfordshire being denied mental health services.

Hertfordshire has the highest referral rejection rate for childrens’ mental health services in England. 41% of Hertfordshire children are denied mental health support compared to 8% in Liverpool, Leeds and East Sussex.

My disabled 12 year old son is one of those left to suffer.

Asa has Autism and a learning disability (low IQ). He desperately needs medication. We have been asking for four years. He is in crisis.

He is struggling to eat, drink and sleep and cannot leave the house. He has been out of his special school for two weeks because he cannot eat, drink or use the toilet there due to his extreme germ phobia.

I have called, emailed and begged child mental health services locally. Asa is crying at mealtimes because he can’t eat for fear of exposing himself to germs. He is loosing weight.

While we wait for our petition application, I have set up a Twitter account @helpingAsa

Please help my child - follow Asa’s Twitter account @helpingAsa

Thanks and love,
Asa and Mum

Did you mention mumsnet at all?

She says she is being helped my mumsnet. To get follower in preparation for a petition.

Did you mention mumsnet at all?

Yes. And you have made it sound like it's being supported by actual Mumsne rather than you've just posted on mumsnet.

I think I'd just concentrate on what you want in your Twitter posts. Mumsnet is not popular with everyone for a start! Loads of people hate it. You need to be much clearer with what you are trying to say.

I dunno. I meant those Mumsnetters who have followed me thanks to my post on here.

I can delete and try again - this is giving me lots of experience in managing a Twitter account at any rate.

You shouldn't say you are being helped by mumsnet. It would better to say you have a thread on mumsnet.

You're not being helped by Mumsnet. You cant say that and you shopping be hashtagging them.

Just dont mention mumsnet or mumsnetters at all. You dong want to muddy the waters.

Also, your bio still doesn't sat anything about 41% of applications being rejected. You dont even have a pinned tweet saying that (A pinned tweet is a tweet which usually encompasses what the account is aiming for. So you tweet about the 41% rejection rate and include your petition link then pin it to the top of your feed. Anyone who goes to your twitter page will see your bio and then directly under it will be the pinned tweet).

You really need to sort your bio to include the actual point of your account; to have them investigate the 41% rejection rate in your county.

You really cannot link yourself with other organisations, like mumsnet, without their permission.

I am deleted that post and tweeted one about trying to start a campaign to improve access to mental health services for children in Hertfordshire.

Nailed it!

"Trying to start a campaign to improve access to mental health services for children in Hertfordshire - 41% of referrals are rejected, the highest rejection rate in England"

That's much better.

*shouldn't be hashtagging them

That's much better but you need to delete it and post it again with hashtags. Search Twitter for popular mental health hashtags and kids mental health hashtags.

Find your local NHS trust's twitter handle and your local MP's handle and @ them in the tweet.

I’d change it. If you’re not a Twitter user, you probably aren’t aware of the types of oddballs an account like this can attract.
A 13 yr old boy with ASD is going to get LOTS of dodgy followers!
Make sure it’s clear that it’s you, as his mum, that’s controlling the account.
check out MWatts3376 on Twitter for a good example of a parent with an adult child with Down Syndrome to see how he integrates his son Jack into Twitter. I do know, however, that he still gets some awful DMs about Jack and disabled people generally.

Also. No harm. But your son is not a pet. Please.

@Soontobe60 That's awful isn't it. I am such a weed when it comes to this sort of stuff. I am grateful for all the advice given here.

What you need to be aware of is how Others will interpret that word though. And many will be quite shocked by it. It will instantly alienate many people, and is making your child more vulnerable.

@Soontobe60 I have deleted all that now - the bio, first tweet and name is totally different.

I've had some great help and got 30 follows. It's all good.

Good. Just remember, we’re not criticising you, more critiquing you to help you get this right. I don’t think anyone who’s commented on this post would disagree with the petition you’re campaigning for. Think of it as PR. Lots of us can give you really useful tips in order to ensure your petition reaches as wide an audience as possible.

I am also in Herts and have had the same battle with services.

We were on the waiting list for PALMS as they agreed my child needed medication for anxiety. They could not confirm how long the wait might be - even though we were classed as an urgent case. The services are so underfunded the backlog is immense. We are supposed to be seen every 6 months through the autism support and the backlog there is so great we have not been seen for 3-4 years.

We now home educate and have a private psychiatrist who prescribes and oversees the medication. It shouldn't have to be that way though.

OP if you start a thread on the SN boards there are posters on there that can help you secure MH therapies (and other provision that would help) via DS’s EHCP. It isn’t an immediate solution and doesn’t solve the medication issue but it will help you.

@Soontobe60 I am genuinely grateful for all the advice I've received.

You have prevented me heading into an absolute disaster and offending/upsetting people.

Thank you all.

Don't do that op. You are being helped by a literal handful of random people, not mn in any capacity. You just aren't social media savvy enough to deal with this op.

I hear you loud and clear @helpingAsa . Not on twitter but will be watching out for when the petition goes live on here 💐

I wouldn't even say that. MN is like Marmite.

OP can learn. You don't have to be a social media expert to have a twitter account. OP is taking on board all advice and the account has already hugely improved. The alternative is she does nothing whilst the whole system fails her son and pelnt of others. Let's support her not knock her down.

We are considering a private psychiatrist but keep thinking we must be close to seeing an NHS one soon (and that is how four years pass and my child is at crisis point).

Sorry you've struggled too. When I read about the 41% rejection rate it all made sense to me and I decided to do something.

My niece has waited two years for help and her parents has spend £1000+ in getting help for her. She is also out of school and suffering.

There's still a post that says "mum emailed".