A few thoughts on #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek
- Miriam Mintz
- May 8, 2017
- 2 min read
I
t's Mental Health Awareness Week y'all..
It follows weeks of royalty and football royalty speaking up about their own struggles with depression, bereavement, stress and anxiety. It's truly wonderful that people are raising awareness in an attempt to combat the stigma around mental health.
Some of us may even remember Theresa May's January pledge to invest in Mental Health education and services.
Unfortunately, I am not quite sure she remembers it.
Because, you see, the somber reality is that the mental healtth services in the UK are in crisis. Despite the government's pledges to the contrary, funding has continually been cut leading to unsustainable workloads and insufficient patient care.
75% of people with mental health problems are not receiving any care at all!
Charities providing therapy and counselling services are also totally overwhelmed with demand. Our waiting list times are 6 months on average (in good times) and we receive next to nothing in terms of funding despite getting the majority of our referrals through statutory services.
These campaigns to raise awareness must be followed up by concrete investment into the services across a range of sectors to make it accessible within a reasonable time span to those amongst us who cannot afford private shrinks.
For this reason, it is even more important that we are aware of the fact that we can't just turn away when someone is struggling. They may not have access to the professional help they need. They may not know how to access it.
Do not ignore the signs. When someone expresses suicidal feelings, do not fob it off as an attempt to get attention. Most people who successfully take their own lives will have expressed their intentions before or even attempted it already.
The Samaritans, free call 116 123 (UK) are great and will be there to talk.
In crisis, Call 999 or take them to A&E where they will get assessed.
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