I’ve lost four men I knew well to suicide. So many people close to me have been affected by poor mental health. It’s not right that a great deal of people in this country struggle to access services; I’ve heard many stories of teenagers – children – turning up at A&E because they’ve attempted to take their lives and they’ve been sent home as there aren’t any beds for them to be admitted to. The fact they’re turning up at A&E feeling suicidal in the first place is indicative of the fact that they can’t get treatment earlier.
The new Government has already appeared to downgrade mental health as a priority. Their Prevention Green Paper was sneaked out over a year late – under the radar and without any proper attention – the day Boris Johnson became Prime Minister. It was short on detail and ambition, and the new minister at the Department for Health and Social Care responsible for mental health policy [Nadine Dorries] is the most junior minister in the building. That’s not very clever when we’re living through a mental illness epidemic.
There’s still such an imbalance in how we treat mental health as a society. As a country we’re breaking down the barriers, but there are still so many taboos. We need to take a more preventative approach. At the moment, policy is all geared towards what to do when someone is in a crisis. So little resource or focus is put into how we keep people well.
I put forward a bill last year to implore the Government to adopt something called a ‘health in all policies’ approach. at means every decision made by Government departments and local authorities must improve the nation’s health. The Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he found my proposal really interesting, but he hasn’t pursued the approach. I’m going to put forward another bill on this as soon as I get the opportunity. Mental illness affects one in four of us at any given time. It’s not me today, but who knows what’s around the corner.
It feels like a general election is coming this autumn. There are lots of new faces in the cabinet, and all share one thing: they want us out of the EU on 31 October, with or without a deal. The challenges we face need a new approach, not the old party mantras. I just hope the country gets behind candidates who put our nation before political groupings, and care about our prosperity and our relationship with Europe.
Find out more about how you can support our campaign for mental health provisions in the workplace at wheresyourheadat.org
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