A MENTAL health charity has revealed that more than a third of its crisis calls relate to the coronavirus pandemic.

Carlisle Eden Mind said more and more people have called upon its services since the national lockdown was lifted in July.

The charity has measured that of its total crisis calls, more than 35 per cent specifically related to Covid-19 or broader effects the pandemic and, more recently, a lot more men over the age of 40 have accessed support.

Michael Boaden, adult service manager, said: “

There was a period leading into the summer where our referrals didn’t go down but kind of plateaued.

“When the national lockdown was lifted and circumstances changed, then we saw referrals increasing and had a lot more contact from people. That hasn’t changed in the past five or six months.

“We anticipate these levels will continue and will continue to rise as we go into the next period.”

He explained that initially other agencies helped take the pressure of people and that in many cases, one of the things that exacerbates people’s mental health is financial stress.

Mr Boaden said: “I think people haven’t necessarily wanted to make approaches to health services at the peak point, but I there will be increases all round in the coming months.

“I think it’s likely to go in that direction because of the multiple factors coming at people are going to affect people.

“It’s great news about the vaccine but people in the meantime will be struggling.”

He believes that this rise in demand comes as people avoid going through official NHS channels.

This is reflected in figures revealed under a Freedom of Information request which shows that between March 1 and October 31 the NHS received fewer mental health referrals than it had in the previous two years.

This year 4,583 referrals were made to Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, which provides mental health services in Cumbria. It received 5,400 referrals during the same eight-month period last year and 5,231 in 2018.

In particular, trust saw a drastic downturn in referrals during the first two months of lockdown.

In April the number of people being referred for mental health conditions more than halved with 333 referrals made, compared to 668 in 2019. There were also 273 fewer people referred this May than there were last May.

David Muir, group director at CNTW trust, said: “We monitor our referrals closely and our teams work hard to maintain access for those who need to reach our services.

“Over the pandemic all our services remained open and we have offered a range of appointments, including direct face-to-face, via telephone and video consultation.

“We did see a down turn in referrals to some of our services in the initial months of the pandemic, referral activity has returned to normal levels in recent months for many of our services

.”

Mindline - 0300 561 0000 - is open 365 days a year and is available to people across Cumbria. For more information about the help available from Carlisle Eden Mind visit cemind.org.