Is #KindnessMatters too vague & sanitised a concept for #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek? Is normal distress the focus of our ‘awareness’ at the expense of SMI, addiction, socioeconomic deprivation, & other such problems which lie outside the remit of soundbites and celebrities? 1/8

Potentially yes, unless we reframe it. #KindnessMatters in #SuicidePrevention because the quality of the therapeutic relationship & a collaborative, individualised psychosocial assessment is protective. Kindness in the form of listening & empathy can literally be lifesaving 2/8

As clinicians, it’s not always about what we say or do, it’s HOW we say & do it. Kindness is not just a fluffy concept, it’s an absolutely vital clinical tool/intervention not to be underestimated. 3/8

Kindness is doing something to help people access the right service instead of saying “that’s not our remit, try someone else”. Kindness is remembering there is a human being behind that referral 4/8

Services need to be commissioned & run with kindness as their basis. It is not kind to leave people without treatment because they are ‘too complex’, ‘don’t meet criteria’, didn’t get the letter, live in the wrong postcode, fell between the cracks 5/8

Years of systematic cuts are not kind. Massive reduction in funding for addiction services is unkind. Months on a waiting list is not kind. Being unable to access interventions for eating disorders because you are not physically sick enough does not represent a kind system 6/8

The language we use is not always kind. Talking about ‘gatekeeping’ as if patients were unwelcome intruders who should not breach our walls - this is institutional and systemic unkindness. We need to stop asking how we can keep people OUT, & focus on inclusion & accessibility 7/8

That’s what I think about kindness 8/8