Grenfell survivor 'still calls and texts her dead friend every day' as MP warns of looming mental health crisis

One survivor of the Grenfell Tower fire who was on the phone to her best friend before she died is so traumatised that she still calls and texts her every day.

The moving story was revealed by Kensington MP Emma Dent Coad, who raised concerns that not enough is being done to give mental health support to those who survived the disaster which killed at least 80 people.

Addressing the House of Commons, Ms Dent Coad said: “Many are fragile indeed and I have huge concerns for their mental health.

“I’ve seen people I know who are still in shock who are not on any path to recovery.

“One I know was on the phone to her terrified best friend in the tower for over an hour, debating whether to stay in the flat or try to leave – then the phone went dead.

“The surviving friend calls and texts her every day, even though she knows her friend is dead. Who is looking after her?

“I am particularly concerned about those who may have mental health crises. We have already had one threatened suicide and one attempted suicide. There may be more. We can be sure many affected people will need urgent and intensive treatment at some point.”

Some of those working with the traumatised Grenfell community have raised fears of a looming mental health crisis, with survivors of such disasters being particularly prone to suffer from conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder as well as depression and anxiety.

The survivors are being directed to a counselling hub at Holborn in central London – seven miles from the scene of the fire, although survivors are currently living at locations across the capital.

Ms Dent Coad pointed to the fact that a lack of suitable provision for those with mental health problems has long been a concern in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea – despite it being the wealthiest local authority in the country.

“For many years, the minority party councillors in Kensington and Chelsea have been asking for an increase in the number of places of safety for those suffering crises.

"This followed a series of incidents in which people with mental health issues in sheltered housing had had crises and then ended up in a police cell overnight because there was nowhere else for them to go.”

Some of the 255 people who escaped the blaze have described how, four weeks on, they are suffering from acute anxiety with physical symptoms including sleepless nights, while some have spoken of having “survivors’ guilt”.

Paul Menacer, 23, told Buzzfeed that many of his fellow survivors are too traumatised to leave their hotel rooms.

“You can’t sleep. The doctor tried to give me all these tablets and stuff but you’re very anxious and not really wanting to take them because, obviously, what happened with the fire… You’re anxious that the fire alarms won’t go off, or something might happen and you might not wake up.”

Sid-Ali Atmani, who lived on the 15th floor of the tower, managed to escape the fire with his wife and 10-year-old daughter.

He told Sky News: “I can’t sleep, I can’t, there’s no way. The voices, the faces of my neighbours, I can’t.

“I’m trapped somewhere. My soul is there in that building. I don’t think my soul is here with me, it’s there with them.”

Since the tragedy, the Red Cross has offered support at the Westway Sports Centre close to the site of the fire.

The charity said in a statement: “The Red Cross has been providing psycho-social support… though different to counselling, all of our volunteers are especially trained and experienced in extremely traumatic situations such as the Tunisia beach attack.”

Those affected by the tragedy have each been assigned a key worker, with a primary focus on helping them with rehousing.

The Government website has a section on mental health support for the Grenfell survivors.

It points to a 24-hour telephone hotline and email service, and a link to an NHS leaflet on trauma, which it says gives “simple suggestions for how to cope and ways in which children may be supported to cope during the next few days.”

The site advises people to visit their GP if symptoms are “severe” or last longer than four weeks. It also gives the details of the Samaritans, and suggests that distressed youngsters call Childline.

It further lists various community organisations and gives details of art therapy sessions taking place each weekend for the Grenfell survivors.

Kensington and Chelsea Council’s website states that victims staying in the surrounding London boroughs and in Milton Keynes can self-refer for “a range of psychological therapies". It also lists details of adult and children’s mental health services in north-west London.

Some experts caution that early mental health intervention isn’t always helpful with survivors of disasters, because the natural grieving process after such a traumatic event is expected to last some time.

"The vast majority of people in any such disaster do fine; that's the good news," Dr. Robert Ursano, chairman of the American Psychiatric Association's Committee on Psychiatric Dimensions of Disasters, told CNN.

"The problem is, you have to intervene with so many people in order to prevent one or two cases.

"If (psychiatrists) get involved too early, that is not just useless but counterproductive,“ he said. ”(They) do more harm than good... You're getting in the way of natural coping mechanisms"