Seven in ten referred to Prevent may have mental health issues

Up to 70 per cent of people referred to the official scheme intended to stop people becoming terrorists may suffer from mental ill health or other vulnerabilities that could leave them prone to falling for propaganda from violent extremists.

The policing lead for Prevent, Simon Cole, said such psychological problems were much more of a potential factor than first thought.

Police says that three special hubs in London, the Midlands and the north-west are seeing people missed by other services, with the counter terrorism scheme being the first state service to refer them for the help they may need. The three hubs were set up to deal with those with mental health issues but, as more people were assessed, adapted to deal with other vulnerabilities that could cause mental health distress.

Counter Terrorism Policing has been working for several years with health professionals to see how many people being referred to Prevent may have mental health issues or vulnerabilities such as autism spectrum disorder, alcohol abuse issues, drug problems or homelessness.

In 2016, Cole said 44 per cent of the individuals involved in the voluntary Prevent scheme had mental health or psychological problems – but the figure is now far higher. He said that as many as 70 per cent of Prevent cases ‘now have some measure of concern within them that needs assessing via vulnerability support hub’.

Cole said a significant proportion of those seen by Prevent had complex needs. “About 40 per cent of those, there’s multiple factors. So that might be substance misuse or housing or other offending behaviours [such as violence]. You would have heard the independent terrorist reviewer talk a few weeks ago about autism specifically. So we have seen that the early thinking has been borne out as we’ve gone forward.”