Suicide rates could rise when the most recent government cut of MIND mental health counselling closes down. MIND, primarily based in Dartford, is the only organisation that offers free therapy to clients in financial difficulty.

From March 2011 mental health patients will be directed to the NHS waiting list for free counselling. In order to receive counselling from the NHS, patients have to wait for up to one year. Christine King, volunteer counsellor at MIND believes that the waiting list is going to grow when the branches close “At the moment, the NHS send a lot of their clients to us to keep their waiting list down. With the list being at one year already, you can imagine how much it will increase when MIND closes.’’

Worries of suicide have been discussed if patients are unable to speak about their problems for a year. Mrs King voices her concerns “Suicide rates are steady at the moment, we are worried, of course, that the may increase. I have a lot of clients that have suicidal problems. I like to think that counselling has helped them come to terms with their problems. Without MIND, they would not have been helped.”

When hoping to save their company, Mrs King and her co-workers tried to gain backing from banks, all of which denied them funding. The government will continue to review the spending cuts in the following week, and will then determine if any further axes are to be made.