Harry WhiteheadChannel Islands

BBC Lauren and Katy Falla looking at the camera with slight smiles. Lauren, who is on the left hand side of the picture, has blonde shoulder length hair. She is wearing a white top with frilled sleeves. Katy, who is on the right hand side of the picture, is brown-blonde hair which is tied back. she has a white jumper on and you can see green collars from a shirt underneath.BBC

Katy and Lauren Falla started a petition calling for mental health service improvements after the death of their brother Jeff

Two sisters are fighting for change in Guernsey’s mental health services after “watching our brother disintegrate” before his death earlier this year.

Jeff Falla died in July aged 38 after battling with addiction for more than two years.

Katy and Lauren Falla started a petition calling for more empathy and integration of the mental health services, saying their pleas for help before their brother’s death “fell on deaf ears”.

The Health and Social Care committee (HSC) said its services regularly carried out reviews into the care patients received to identify any learnings.

If you have been affected by the issues in this story, you can find help and support on the BBC Action line website.

Describing her brother, Katy said Jeff was a “fantastic brother” who “loved life”.

“He was very family orientated,” she said. “He’s got a young son and wanted to see his son grow up.

“Everything was just family and peace. He just wanted to exist in a world of love.”

During his addiction, the family said they had tried to get Jeff help and support from the island’s mental health services.

Lauren said she had first thought her brother “didn’t want the help”.

“But we went to several meetings, I had several emails and phone calls and it soon became apparent that there wasn’t really any help there,” she said.

“There wasn’t the empathy, there wasn’t anyone really to turn to.

“There was only a specific person and basically there was no other people that could have their say. It was their say or the highway.”

“There wasn’t anyone really to turn to”

The family said they had battled since 2021 to get support for Jeff, which Katy said had been “heartbreaking”.

“We’re watching before our eyes our brother disintegrate,” she said. “We are screaming from the rooftops, ‘Please help our brother, what can we do?’ It felt like it was falling on deaf ears.”

They have since started a petition which has received hundreds of signatures.

‘More empathy’

Katy said she hoped it would lead to “change” for the island.

“[There needs to be] more support, more guidance, more empathy,” she said.

“We had multiple interactions with professionals and the empathy was just non-existent. They couldn’t see what we were seeing and through that there was no guidance, there was no support.

“It’s really those aspects that we need to shine a light on and go, ‘How can we provide more support, how can we be more empathetic to these individuals at their more vulnerable times?'”

HSC said: “Our sincere condolences go to all of Mr Falla’s family and loved ones for their loss.

“While we are unable to discuss individual cases in the media… ensuring a culture of continuous learning is very important to all our services and everyone who works in healthcare.”