Prime Minister tackle mental health

Former Member

Prime Minister to tackle mental health – what do you think?
Prime Minister, Theresa May is going to announce plans to overhaul mental health services and transform attitudes towards mental health issues in a speech. The PM will announce extra training for teachers, more online self-checking and a review of mental health services.

Plans to tackle the "hidden injustice" and stigma of mental illness have been revealed by Theresa May. In the speech, Mrs May announced:

• Every secondary school to be offered mental health first aid training as the Government reckon 1 in 4 people go through a mental health problem at some point in our lives –- but really we all have mental health and we all go through tough times.
• Expanding online services to allow symptom checks before getting a face-to-face appointment. As it saves time and also doing some research about the cause.

Mental health - Children & young people

• 68% rise in the number of young people being admitted to hospital because of self harm over the last 10 years
• 80,000 children and young people who suffer from severe depression
• 50% of adults with mental health problems were diagnosed in childhood
• 95% of young people in prison have a mental health illness

What do you think of her plans? Do you think the government will help people struggling with mental health issues? Will it help tackle the stigma surrounding mental health and get people talking about how they’re feeling?

Former Member

I think what the prime minister wants to do is great but i honestly dont trust politicians anymore. So will just have to wait and see if she keeps her promises - yes it will certainly help a little in tackling the stigma around mental health but there is still a very long way to go.

I have had 4 newspaper interviews today talking about this, expressing my concerns and talking about my own battle with depression, anxiety, panic attacks and self harm - they all went very well. I seriously feel the biggest impact comes from those who suffer with mental illness.

Former Member

Politicians do often make promises they don't keep but I can't remember David Cameron ever mentioning mental health and improving services so I guess this is a step forward either way. I do think that if she does go ahead with what she is proposing, it could be really good for the country and the millions suffering with mental illness.

Former Member

I am doing a live interview/debate on LBC radio tomorrow at 8:45 am so frantically trying to understand all that has happened today. - I need to know my facts so dont go on the radio worrying and not knowing what im talking about. ahahha

Former Member

zaynah wrote: »

Prime Minister to tackle mental health – what do you think?
Prime Minister, Theresa May is going to announce plans to overhaul mental health services and transform attitudes towards mental health issues in a speech. The PM will announce extra training for teachers, more online self-checking and a review of mental health services.

Plans to tackle the "hidden injustice" and stigma of mental illness have been revealed by Theresa May. In the speech, Mrs May announced:

• Every secondary school to be offered mental health first aid training as the Government reckon 1 in 4 people go through a mental health problem at some point in our lives –- but really we all have mental health and we all go through tough times.
• Expanding online services to allow symptom checks before getting a face-to-face appointment. As it saves time and also doing some research about the cause.

Mental health - Children & young people

• 68% rise in the number of young people being admitted to hospital because of self harm over the last 10 years
• 80,000 children and young people who suffer from severe depression
• 50% of adults with mental health problems were diagnosed in childhood
• 95% of young people in prison have a mental health illness

What do you think of her plans? Do you think the government will help people struggling with mental health issues? Will it help tackle the stigma surrounding mental health and get people talking about how they’re feeling?

Where are these statistics from? - i need to say it on the radio tomorrow.

Maisy

I think it's a good start, but that's it. I'm gutted that the plans didn't mention primary schools or further education, or even focussed on teacher wellbeing either. As much as training and awareness is brilliant, when it comes to referring young people to appropriate mental health services, it can be difficult when CAMHS is already at breaking point, or so I've heard.

​Don't particurlary like the idea of an online symptom checker either, because sometimes you can't fit into a simple 'yes/no' category and perhaps if it came out that the service didn't think the young person had a mental health issue, the young person may be put off and less likely to get help.

Siena

I think their plans are really good. The services i think for mental health are great sometimes But ive heard people struggle to even get in them. So they should probably be working on that as well.
I struggle so very much to say out loud how i feel and think because of the stigma or people think i should be able to get over it or that im psycho. The labels that go with it makes anyone not want to speak about it until it very late.

Former Member

I agree certainly that some sort of mental health first aid should be provided to all secondary schools - that's useful for everyone and could potentially reduce the amount of new cases of mental illness to begin with...

As for online checks/research i'm not really sure- people, when presented with a psychometric questionnaire, tend to answer in a way that gives them the outcome they wanted to see- people on the fence will convince themselves they have an illness that when talking to a professional face-to-face, they may not show as many symptoms as they previously admitted to on the test, OR it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and after seeing they show some sysmptoms of an illness, they then start acting like they have it and actually gain a real mental illness deriving from thinking they had one but originally did not. So i disagree with this one.

In my experience, mental health is only stigamtised by the old (im 17, ahaha) - I and my peers talk about it freely, and even so in classes of people i've never met before I have discussed mental health without issue. I'm not really sure how to get around that, inspiring social change is hard, and I highly doubt she will be the one to change this.

More training for teachers is definitely fantastic...many I have been taught by, observe on a daily basis (i volunteer teaching in high schools), and hear from others about don't know how to deal with a mentally ill student at all. My favourite teacher in high school was my year 9 and year 11 science teacher..because she was pretty much one of few teachers in the shcool who knew how to act towards me with my asocial ways and depression. Some teachers i've came across even have the nerve to ignore a student reporting a mental illness to them (even though teachers have a duty of care and are required to pass the information on; safeguarding...)


Ultimately though, this is the government saying this, a government who traditionally put a large burden of cost cutting onto mental health services (proportionate to the original subsidies different sectors of the NHS recieve)...I'm still waiting after 3 months for an appointment with someone from IAPT (improving access to psychological therapies - how ironic huh).
Without greater funding for more hospitals, more encouragement into training to become a mental health specialist/psychiatrist/clinical psychologist etc. nothing will change much. There's already a massive waiting list to mental health services (i'm in that list!) and getting more people admitting to mental health issues just makes that list longer.