It’s good to talk

Talking therapies can make a real difference to people with learning disabilities and mental health issues. Ian A McMillan reports Ben Webster * was not happy. The 21-year-old, who has a global learning disability, was already ‘hyper vigilant’, in part because he had been assaulted, and he had a history of panic attacks. But latterly, an incident with a security guard at a supermarket had left him feeling he looked ‘suspicious’. As a result, he was becoming increasingly reluctant to leave the house or stay away from home for any length of time. Webster, who lives in Greenwich, southeast London,