I pause at the computer and look out of the window and into the garden. The horse chestnut tree is in flower with more florets than ever.
Memories come flooding back.
Nearly forty years ago there was a campaign to encourage primary school children to plant trees and Lucy got a plastic coffee cup, some compost, and a conker and the tree is the result.
Of course Lucy never saw the tree in flower, and after her death I gave up my job and ever since I have done what I can to try and make sure that there are adequate facilities for the mentally ill in Hertfordshire.
The present economic cutbacks and other changes are making things far worse, as a lot of people are suffering from stress. As a result the demand for Mind's telephone advice service has doubled over the last four years, while NHS services are being squeezed and making less money available to charities which provide community support for people with difficulties.
Lucy almost certainly would not have died if she had proper support in a crisis rather than being thrown in the Muppet House - so please consider making a donationto the Herts Mind Network, to National Mind, or to a local charity in the area where you live.
It may help to prevent what happened to Lucyhappening to someone else.
Lucy was "trapped in the box" by failures of the National Heath Service to provide adequate facilities and her fate is represented by the figure trying to escape from the picture at the top of this blog.
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