“What we’re finding is that the parents… are looking for support while their young people are waiting and they’re coming to us, and that’s therefore increasing the demand that we’re trying to meet,” Douglas told the BBC.
“I think that just shows what’s going on in the wider system.”
One parent, from Berkshire, told the BBC that she had to “fight tooth and nail” to get support for her daughter’s anxiety through the NHS.
“The NHS are blockers, effectively. Honestly, the process is just ridiculous,” the mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
“Whereas I can ring up Response, and it’s ‘yep, no problem, we’ll put you on the waiting list and it’ll be a few weeks’.”
“What it’s done is given her these opportunities to discuss in a neutral environment things that are going on – it makes a really big difference to her wellbeing and her level-headedness,” she said.