Bressie on why mental health should be an election issue

Ireland has never been great when it comes to conversations about our feelings, emotions and mental well-being. In so many ways we’re an incredible people. But we are not very good when it comes to this.

That’s why we need to make our national approach to mental health an election issue. Just look at the number of suicides in Ireland, especially among young people. Something is seriously wrong – and we, as a nation, need to do something about it.

Over the years, any meaningful conversation in Ireland tended to revolve around alcohol, and take place in a pub. It’s going to take time to change that. On the plus side, as a culture Ireland has proven itself to be progressive in the last couple of years, which is really exciting. But we have a long, long way to go.

Look at the official statistics: it’s almost embarrassing, how we fail to look after vulnerable people in this country. We spend barely 6% of our health budget on mental health. That’s just over €100 million. The World Health Organisation says that a minimum of 14% should be spent on mental health. The UK spends 12% to 14% – and that’s low. Think about it: mental health issues cost €11 billion a year in Ireland – and we spend a mere €100 million. It’s crazy. What’s more, an awful lot of that 100 million is spent on the medical model, i.e. on drugs. So, even if a politician has no empathy on this, and doesn’t give a shite about it, purely in economics terms it makes sense to change things.

Which is why I want to see our next government develop an effective, pragmatic strategy to deal with mental health reform. They have to start looking at emotional well-being and mental health issues in a preventive context.

In life, you’re going to have to deal with all types of pressures and crises – and the vast majority of people have never been given the life skills to cope with them. There are preventative measures – which are based around talk therapy, education, cognitive-behavioural therapy, counselling – that actually work. But we have neglected all of this. Which is why the government now needs to look at opening crisis centres for people who are in distress – people who may need immediate care, who may have self-harmed, who may be contemplating suicide.

I want to repeat that: we need specific crisis centres for these people. They should not be sent into A&E. They need to be brought to a place where there’s holistic care for them, both physically and mentally. That’s absolutely paramount. They’ve started to do it in England and it’s very effective.

TACKLING INEQUALITY ISSUES

It isn’t just down to government. They have to facilitate change – but it’s up to all of us to break down the stigma that surrounds mental health issues. As a society, we have a really funny idea of what therapy is. If you pull your hamstring or hurt your knee, you go to physiotherapy. Yet, if your mind or brain is under pressure, causing stress, anxiety and depression, people feel inhibited. They don’t know where to turn.

We can go and get help for it: we can go to the physiotherapist for the brain, if you like. But too often we are slow to do that. Therapy is a good thing: we should all do it. It’s not just for people with mental health issues. Everyone would benefit from a good therapist.

Of course, mental health issues don’t arise in a vacuum. A lot of issues we see – like homelessness – are a product of the rampant inequality in our country. It’s disgusting. Inequality is tied closely to all sorts of social issues. Most people in Ireland, when they’re happy, they don’t want to acknowledge that inequality exists – but it does. There’s people up and down this country that even if they wanted to get help, they couldn’t: they’re more worried about trying to feed their children, than spending €50 on trying to get their heads right. So we have to tackle the inequality issues in Ireland.

For me, one of the biggest assets we have in Ireland at the moment is a good education system. But counsellors being cut from schools – that’s outrageous. I am not just talking about students needing counsellors. Visualise this: you’re a 25-year-old teacher, just out of college, at your first school. You walk into a classroom where a 14-year-old girl had taken her own life. There’s twenty-eight other girls there and you have to figure out what to say, and how to pick up the pieces, with no training. A teacher should not be in that position.

We have brilliant teachers – but we have to ask: ‘how do we use the education system to arm our youth with much more than the ability to learn?’ The teachers are vital here. You’ve got to ask them what they think is the best way to go forward and facilitate that.

GRILL THE POLITICIANS

I am not going to tell people who to vote for. Nor should you vote for any politicians or any party, based purely on their mental health mandate. There’s more to being in government than that. You have to look at their economic policies, their social policies, everything.

I like Aodhán Ó Ríordán, he’s a very progressive politician. He understands with social issues you can’t just stick your head in the sand and try not to offend people who are easily offended. His drugs stance is forward thinking. Politicians making progressive, yet controversial decisions as he is – that’s what I want from a politician.

The trouble is that our whole health system is fucked – and unfortunately, our mental health system is part of that. This isn’t just about money. It’s strategic. We have to know where the money is going. If we just blow more money on mental health services and spend more of it on drugs, that’s not helping anything.

If we just look at mental health in isolation, we’re fucked. We need to understand the other problems in society and look at how mental health might be linked to them. When someone loses their job, they don’t just lose their job and their income: they feel like they’ve lost their integrity, their self-esteem, their confidence – and these things have to be re-built.

In the meantime, when politicians call to your door, don’t let them insult your intelligence. Grill them. What are they doing around increased access to talk therapy at a community level? Don’t listen to ‘ring-fenced budgets’ or ‘it’s high on our agenda’: demand specifics. I want to know if my son, daughter, mother or father, going through this stress, that they’ve somewhere to go. Do not let them off the hook.

If it doesn’t become an election issue, I want our politicians at least to know, that the electorate really gives a fuck about this.