For all the fine words about the importance of looking after our mental health and wellbeing, it is striking that the services available to help people with conditions ranging from ADHD and psychosis to depression and PTSD remain patchy and underfunded.
It is well known that early intervention is key to helping people who experience mental ill health. The consequences of not getting the right support at the right time can be catastrophic; health worsens, and people all too often resort to coping strategies that lead to addiction or even suicide.
Read more: Adults being failed by lack of ADHD services across the north
The health minister, Stormont executive, MLAs and the Department of Health already know this. There is a comprehensive mental health strategy for Northern Ireland, running from 2021-2031, but it has so far lacked sufficient investment.
For example, mental health champion Siobhan O’Neill told the Stormont health committee last May that just an eighth of the necessary funding for 2024/25 was being offered - around £5.1m instead of the recommended £42m.
This is dangerously shortsighted. There is a substantial cost to the economy associated with poor mental health - £3.4bn annually, according to Prof O’Neill.
Read more: Addiction services projects in Northern Ireland and Republic receive more than £12m of funding
Yet much of this is preventable. This is borne out by the positive experience of Megan Finn, who shares her story of recovering from psychosis in today’s paper. Key to her continuing recovery is the support of the early intervention service, which includes bi-weekly visits from a mental health nurse. This is to help pick up early warning signs to prevent a relapse.
There is a comprehensive mental health strategy for Northern Ireland, running from 2021-2031, but it has so far lacked sufficient investment
It is clear that this service offers vital support to people like Ms Finn, yet it is so far offered only in Belfast, and there only to people aged under 30. Those elsewhere are entitled to ask why similar services aren’t offered across Northern Ireland.
Another example of the unevenness in the north’s mental health services was highlighted yesterday by John Ferris. The 47-year-old Belfast man was diagnosed last year with ADHD and autism, which he described as “the scariest and most liberating” experience of his life.
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There are no commissioned ADHD services in Northern Ireland, so trusts have only limited resources to meet demand. In Belfast, there is an eight year wait after a referral.
Mr Ferris has turned to the private medical sector for help but this is neither straightforward nor, for many, affordable. He has to pay a private GP to write a prescription every month, and then pay for the medication. Mr Ferris describes this situation as the “double whammy of an ADHD tax”.
Though there are severe demands on Stormont’s budget, investment in mental health services must be prioritised if Stormont is serious about investing in the lives and wellbeing of the general public.
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