Hillsborough support group helping people deal with Stade De France events

Thirty-four years on from the Hillsborough disaster hundreds are still struggling with the trauma but a Liverpool support group is helping to save the lives of people who feel they have reached the end of the road.

Timely interventions by the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance (HSA) have prevented a number of attempted suicides while also providing therapy for those severely affected by the events at that fateful FA Cup semi-final at Sheffield Wednesday's ground in 1989 which resulted in 97 deaths.

Monthly meetings, WhatsApp groups and even activism all help in the healing process but HSA chairman Peter Scarfe admits the fallout from last summer's Champions League final, where chaotic scenes saw thousands of Liverpool fans involved in dangerous congestion before being tear-gassed by police, has created a whole new wave of problems.

"We fund-raise to pay for people to go for private, bespoke therapy, and the success rate is really high," he told the PA news agency.

"We are doing some good stuff. But then of course what happened at Stade de France we then had to set up a sub-group and have managed to send several people for therapy for that as well because it retriggered a hell of a lot of people.

"Stade de France was almost a carbon-copy of what happened at Hillsborough and there are so many things you can relate from one to the other.

"It is known people took their own lives after being retriggered after what happened at Stade de France."

The HSA was set up in 2019 to provide mental health support for those who were struggling with the impact Hillsborough has had on them.

More than 150 people have accessed therapy through the group and it is estimated around 100 people are now no longer involved because they have found a