The “Mental Health Crisis”

We need to take a step back and move beyond the mindset of “early intervention” and invest some thought and action into more proactive approaches. Prevention is better than cure. Rather than waiting for the symptoms of mental illness to present themselves, we need to invest in our children from a very early age to develop fundamental life skills that will enable them to adapt through pressure and uncertainty. Arm adults, parents, professionals, everybody with the mindset and resources to navigate intense levels of change to prevent poor mental health in the first place.

By Emma Ogilvie

Is it time to start being more proactive in the fight against mental illness?

One month after Prime Minister Theresa May promised to transform the way we deal with mental health problems right across society, the BBC’s Panorama Revealed: Britain’s Mental Health Crisis investigated the troubled state of the NHS. It was an interesting and emotional piece of reporting, but what did we actually learn from last night’s report?

Many people are clearly hurting from the lack of facilities available, lack of control, and adequate care faced by people with a mental illness. The big take-home was that there is simply not enough money within the NHS to provide adequate services and support even at crisis point and this is not just an issue specifically within Mental Health departments.

In a wider context, the NHS is going through a really tough time, bouncing from crisis to crisis on multiple levels; the obesity crisis, elderly care crisis and bed shortages, causing a negative impact on life-saving operations. Clearly, more funding is needed, but what happens if the monies are simply not there? The reality is that there is not a bottomless pit of money available for the government to firefight and fend off Britain’s mental health crisis.

Mental illness patient numbers continue to rise

The latest figures show that1 in 10 children now suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder. The BBC reported yesterday that one young person felt “trapped” and felt like a “monster” when describing their struggle with mental illness. This young person was just one of more than 50,000 children and young people who turned to ChildLine last year because of a serious mental health problem. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38873671 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38873671

Are the suggested government health reforms enough?

With so much focus on what the government calls “Mental Health First Aid Training” and “strengthening links between schools and NHS specialist staff”, are we negating the fact that this is just another form of crisis management?

We are facing a mental illness epidemic that is affecting all areas of our society, not just the NHS and not just the group of people last night’s programme chose to focus on. As an ex-military professional, I can tell you that there is a huge surge in mental health problems in veterans with too few funds and resources available to stem the tide. This mental health ‘crisis is not limited to just the NHS, mental health is everyone’s business and as a society, we need to start to focus on ways to prevent poor mental health in the first place.

The government reforms highlight the necessity of “Mental Health First Aid Training” to train people in businesses to spot the signs of mental illness. I’m a huge advocate of this as it’s so easy to suffer in silence and not know where to turn for help and as a society, we should be far more aware of the symptoms and support available. However, the nature of “Mental Health First Aid” is to catch mental illness early but in effect, it’s still “treating the horse when it has already bolted.” We need to take a step back and move beyond the mindset of “early intervention” and invest some thought and action into more proactive approaches.

Prevention is better than cure

Rather than waiting for the symptoms of mental illness to present themselves, we need to invest in our children from a very early age to develop fundamental life skills that will enable them to adapt through pressure and uncertainty. Arm adults, parents, professionals, everybody with the mindset and resources to navigate intense levels of change to prevent poor mental health in the first place.

Stress and high levels of disruption and change are inevitable

From an early age, our children experience high levels of change. From transitioning from the home to nursery, right through to secondary school. Families collectively face exam pressures and relationship pressures and that’s before you even consider the common financial worries faced by families in today’s economic climate. So is it enough to introduce reforms on spotting the early signs of mental illness or putting more money into caring for those already affected? The sad reality is that life is hard and it only gets harder, putting more pressure on schools and local government to firefight the impending mental illness epidemic will not stop more people from becoming ill in the first place.

The danger with this potential shift in reforms and reports like that of Panorama is that they are simply not proactive enough and short-sighted in their aspirations. It’s time that society, the government, the NHS and businesses start to look at the future and start being more proactive in the fight against mental illness. Perhaps when Lord Stevenson and Paul Farmer complete their review on improving support in the workplace, they can highlight the issue with a much broader perspective. Watch the Panorama report on the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08f0htn

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