Manchester Arena Survivors Say Years Later, Mental Health Support Remains Elusive
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Eight years after the devastating 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, survivors are speaking out, expressing feelings of being “forgotten” and detailing the ongoing struggle to access adequate mental health support. The attack, which occurred at the end of an Ariana Grande concert, claimed 22 lives and physically injured 116, while leaving hundreds more grappling with lasting psychological trauma.
The emotional scars, it appears, are proving as difficult to heal as the physical ones. Kallie Fenton, 21, from Blackpool, who was 12 at the time of the attack, is among those calling for increased and more specialized support as she and her peers navigate adulthood. “The more I’ve learnt about the attack, the more it’s affected me and made me just kind of question everything around me,” she said, adding that she is “tired of living on the edge.”
The Aftermath and Initial Response
In the wake of the tragedy, the Greater Manchester Resilience Hub was established to provide assistance to young people impacted by the bombing. However, access proved challenging for some. Several teenagers reported that the hub’s location was too distant, and they encountered difficulties finding comparable support closer to home. Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust maintains that the hub has assisted thousands and continues to receive referrals on a weekly basis.
Kallie recalls the night of the attack vividly. It was her and her sister’s first concert attended without their mother. “So my mum was like, this is a big trusting event like I’m putting a lot of trust into you both,” she recounted to BBC North West Tonight. Her mother’s text message at 10:31 PM, inquiring if the concert had finished because she’d heard a bang she initially mistook for fireworks, underscored the horrific reality unfolding at the arena.
Kallie and her sister were in Block 205, near the mezzanine level where the bomber, Salman Abedi, detonated the explosive device. “As soon as we got outside, it was just smoke everywhere and like bodies on the floor and nails on the floor,” she described, painting a harrowing picture of the scene.
Lingering Trauma and the Search for Help
Despite not sustaining physical injuries, Kallie says the impact on her mental health has intensified with age. “In daily life, I’m always looking around everywhere. I’m always just checking to see where the nearest exits are and where I can leave if I need to leave and it just affected how much I can trust everyone around me,” she explained. “It’s tiring, it’s really tiring and I don’t want to have to live constantly on edge. But I feel like it’s something that it’s gonna be carried through forever.”
Her experience with therapy has been frustrating. Kallie participated in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy twice, but both times the treatment was prematurely halted. “Every time I did EMDR, it was never finished… so we got half way through it and they’d dismiss me or discharge me from the services,” she said. A recent attempt to re-engage with mental health services resulted in a projected one-year waiting list, leaving her feeling “quite angry… and frustrated because it feels like we’ve been forgotten about and we still need support.”
Kallie found solace and connection through a group chat initially created for survivors to coordinate attendance at the One Love Manchester benefit concert. It was there she met Abbey Aubert, 21, from Manchester, who was 13 during the attack.
“The One Love Group is definitely the biggest positive,” Abbey shared. “Being able to make these lifelong friendships because, you know, we’re really connecting over something that’s so distressing.” She added that the arena bombing influences “every decision that I make, every choice, every day.” Abbey described a constant sense of carrying the trauma, “like you are carrying it around on your shoulders every single day.”
Abbey’s experience with counseling mirrored Kallie’s, with therapy being cut short just as she began to feel comfortable opening up. She also encountered lengthy waiting lists for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and EMDR. “It’s just always been pushed under the rug,” she lamented.
Kaci Connor-Dugdale, 22, from Blackpool, who also attended the concert as a 13-year-old, echoed these sentiments. She now avoids events with fireworks due to the triggering memories. “It affected me in school with like people making jokes and stuff, and then, in my adulthood, I’m still hearing it,” she said. “The same feelings from when I was 13 is still the same feelings… and I don’t think that will really change.” Kaci reported that the 12 weeks of NHS therapy she received at age 20 focused more on explaining CBT principles than addressing her individual emotional needs.
Calls for Specialized Support and Long-Term Commitment
The Home Office stated it “stands shoulder to shoulder” with survivors, highlighting existing support mechanisms including a 24/7 helpline, mental health assessments, and peer support. A dedicated support hub is planned to launch by summer 2026.
However, Abbey believes mental health services need to be more tailored to the unique experiences of each survivor. “Everyone on that night have had different experiences, so will be feeling different things and I think that there really needs to be more awareness and acknowledgment of that,” she said.
Kallie believes that consistent support from their teenage years could have dramatically altered the trajectories of her life and those of her peers. “I think a lot of us would be in a very different place if we received the support that we were promised,” she concluded. Pennine Care NHS Trust reported supporting over 700 individuals in the immediate aftermath of the attack and has since provided assistance to more than 4,000 people, including 1,000 children.
