Back in May of this year, my 19 year old daughter was admitted to our local acute psychiatric ward. On admission, we were told she would be safe, that the type of care and time spent would be tailored to her needs and that she would be moved on when she was ready (1/10)

7 months later and she is still on the same acute psychiatric ward, one where the staff are not trained to deal with her condition and most of them are totally out of their depth. Many are wonderful but unable to keep her safe and they are not adequately supported (2/10)

This ward of 22 patients, is so strapped for cash that they do not even have enough money for a trained psychologist, let alone the correct quota of staff. Unsurprisingly, her condition has worsened (3/10)

We are now being told that an acute psychiatric ward is the worst place for someone with her condition. Surely a specialist unit would therefore be a better option? Let me tell you about these so called 'specialist' units... (4/10)

These units are run my private companies, that the NHS has to pay for (if funding is agreed). They are usually hundreds of miles away from home, making it nigh on impossible to transition back into the community successfully and the correct therapy is not available (5/10)

So what do we do? We fight. We fight for our local trust to recognise what she needs and ask them to spend money (far less than the £5,000 per week that a specialist unit would cost) on providing this in the place that is local and meant to help her (6/10)

We won't know for another two weeks, whether this is possible or not. So we wait and hope, as there seems to be no alternative (7/10)

"What about the others?" said my daughter. "What about the other 21 people on this ward who have no one to fight for them?"

And this is where we are both asking for your help... (8/10)

Please make some 'noise'. Share our story. Share your story or the story of someone you love. Vote wisely next week for a party that just *might* make a difference. People need to know what a terrible state our NHS mental health service is in (9/10)

I'm doing it for my daughter and for the other 21 people who have no one to fight for them. Something needs to change. #Forthe21 #MentalHealthMatters #MentalHealthAwareness #Berkshire #Wokingham
@DrPhillipLee @johnredwood