On World Mental Health Day Think of Elle.

A Facebook friend Ruth just posted this on her page. 

“World Mental Health Day… the govt has appointed a suicide prevention minister. The very same govt overseeing and ensuring the absolute suffering of millions, including children, 4.5 million of whom are living in poverty in Britain. How is a counsellor in every school (an aim of the suicide prevention minister) going to remedy this? I could go on, about unemployment, lack of decent homes, lack of health services, the dismantling of communities, disability discrimination within the system supposed to support less able, but as it stands there are a myriad of causes and concerns leading to mental health problems in Britain today, and appointing a suicide prevention minister in some kind of attempt to alleviate all of this is plain insulting.”

Leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn has just put this to our Prime Minister.

“If austerity is really over then why do we now have 5000 less psychiatric nurses than we did 5 years ago?”

This is what people currently dealing with mental health issues are up against in this country. This is the reality. Appointing a mental health minister is like putting a sticking plaster on a broken leg.

Elle has been in hospital, under section since April, it’s now October. She was having suicidal thoughts and I feel played as much of a part in getting admitted as anybody else because she knew that’s where she needed to be.

I’m in regular contact with Elle and one thing that strikes me is the treatment programs she is receiving are taking a painfully long time to be implemented. She hasn’t responded to a course of antidepressants so they are now going to start a new one. This will need to be assessed over a further six weeks. I’m fully aware things can take time when treating mental health. But I have another feeling that if our services weren’t stretched to breaking point they may have made much more progress than is being achieved.

Elle is one of the greatest voices on mental health I’ve ever heard. Please read her old posts. Go through the whole story if you can. Everything she writes is articulate and to the point.

Please send messages that I can pass on to her. We are in regular contact.

World Mental Health day is all about the experience of someone like Elle and nothing to do with a heartless government making media friendly announcements that solve nothing.
The massive rise in failing mental health in this country links directly to the same government’s policies, and their war on the vulnerable, via a smokescreen called austerity.