Funding for mental health

 Before Christmas, Rethink Mental Illness ran a campaign to stop Monitor (the watchdog for health funding) with its plan to cut mental health budgets next year. A total of 6,703 people including MHAG signed before the consultation ended at midnight on Christmas Eve so a response is imminent. In good news, due to the campaigning of Rethink and others NHS England has now told local health commissioners they need to increase in real terms the amount they spend next year on mental health.

Redditch and Bromsgrove Clinical Commissioning Group have decided to cut their spending on mental health from eight per cent of the budget to just seven per cent by the next financial year (2015/16), whilst because of their overall increase in budget this means around an extra £500,000 will go to mental health. But if they had kept it at eight per cent, there would have been a £1.5million increase so really we're losing out on £1million! In total £14million is spent on mental health while the rest of their £187.2million goes towards physical health. You can read more about this in a story I wrote for the Redditch Standard here.

It is hugely important for us all to fight for better funding for mental health - we all know everything is being squeezed from all aspects of the public sector and there is simply less money to go round. But it is well documented times of austerity breed mental health issues so there are now more people than ever struggling, so we simply cannot let them go without. The link between physical and mental health has also been proven so effectively, putting money into mental health can only help with the pressure on the entire system.

Visit Rethink's website here.

Promoting mental health at the council

Today we’d like to share with you some of the speech given by Laney Walsh, UNISON branch secretary at Redditch Borough Council, at our last MHAG meeting. It was great to hear Laney talk about the work being done within the town and how this is being recognised far beyond the borough boundaries. Some of the comments which particularly inspired us were:

 

 

 

On taking part in the Time to Change pledge: “I knew there would be some interest but I was really surprised at the high level of interest there was and therefore the high need for support in the workplace. Staff are suffering silently because mental health is perceived to be a weakness. It is perceived to be a condition of choice and a condition you create yourself...It has evolved in a big way, there are action plans within the workforce and most senior managers have signed individual pledges as have the majority of elected members.”

 

On going to an awards ceremony where they were given a regional prize for health and safety based on the mental health work they are doing: “The president of UNISON is a mental health nurse and her words at the awards ceremony were: 'this is pioneering and trailblazing'. She wants to come to the council to see what's happening.”

 

On how fantastic Redditch is!: “I do think Redditch and Bromsgrove are pioneering towns, they are taking the bull by the horns and speaking about things other people are scared to talk about. That's the biggest barrier to overcome now - I have always felt mental health is the unknown, the unspoken, the unacknowledged and the brushed aside. We are taking it forward and making it better and easier for people to deal with.

There's not anybody out there that hasn't been touched by something. Redditch and Bromsgrove councils have a workforce of approximately 1,000 with around one in four affected by mental health. We would never ignore that if it was a physical illness. Employers are starting to understand but there is still a long way to go and I'm in it til the end.”

 

On speaking up about mental health in the workplace: “Health, safety and wellbeing is a very different thing now to what it was 20 years ago. Until we start standing up and saying you're making me ill, we are not going to see big changes. It is a drip drip effect.

Staff want someone to listen without judging, be there for them and realise it's not a weakness. I think it's a strength - there's a strength in a mentally ill person that's not found in everybody.”

School - where good mental health starts

When you spend a large portion of your life thinking about mental health, you come across all sorts of statistics. They never fail to shock or move me but sometimes one sticks out and stays with me for a long time. One of the biggest ones for me is the fact 50 per cent of all mental health issues emerge before the age of 14 and 75 per cent before 25.

Just let that sink in for a while. 

While we all know it's true (how often do you speak to someone and their mental health was a problem right from their school days?) and I myself am in that bracket, it's still a pretty staggering figure. And it makes it all the more puzzling why next to nothing is done in schools on mental health. I appreciate it's hugely dependant on which school you went to and I don't have firsthand experience of schooling in Redditch so really can't comment on what they are or aren't doing here; however it just isn't good enough things are done on such an ad hoc basic. Essentially it's luck of the draw whether your school will be good at dealing with mental health or not.

To me school is a place where you learn how to live in the real world. In theory your guide ropes tying you your parents or carers are snipped away slowly until you can stand without support. This not only requires you to learn educationally, but also to learn some life lessons too. Even if you think of it as being a 'sausage factory' churning out identi-kit corporate suits who have five degrees and all the business know-how you could ever want, these people are still that - people. They will have relationship breakdowns, traumatic events and plenty of stress to deal with, even if they're not affected by a diagnosable mental health issue.

Our formative years are exactly the time to be giving young people the tools the know how to deal with issues which will arise throughout their lives. We'll never eradicate severe mental health issues and there will always have to be a system set up to deal with those at that end of the spectrum but is is clear by talking openly and offering coping mechanisms we can make a change in the way the next generation tackle problems going forward.

I'm not for a minute suggesting untrained teachers should be responsible for this on top of the workload they already have but what I am strongly suggesting is we are doing a disservice to our children by sending them off into the big, wide world with a string of A grades but no emotional resilience except that which they've had to teach themselves.

There seems to be a fear which arises from the stigma surrounding mental health that we can't mention it to children - as if they may spontaneously combust at the mere mention of the topic. Of course sitting down pre-schoolers to have an in depth discussion on suicide is wholly inappropriate but age-appropriate sessions could and should be incorporated into school life so that it becomes normal to talk about mental health and wellbeing.

Every child experiences it - whether through their own issues or those of a family member or friend - so it's simply unacceptable to shy away from discussing it with them. It saves money in the long term if fewer children end up entering the system later on and more than that, it is our moral responsibility to guide them - not only educationally but also emotionally. We are failing the next generation if we don't.

Locked up for the crime of being unwell

Few could fail to be moved by the plight of the 16-year-old girl who hit the headlines over the weekend after it was revealed she spent two nights in a police cell as there was no hospital bed for her anywhere.

Even if you have no experience of mental health, the thought of a terrified and very poorly young girl being locked up - not because she was guilty of a terrible crime but because she was too ill to stay at home - is beyond awful. 

Many will use this story as a reason to attack the Government or to talk about the politics of the situation - whilst I agree we need to have discussions around why this has been allowed to happen and how our supposedly civilised society allows for such barbaric treatment, it's not about name calling or pointing figures. 

Mental health has been the Cinderella of the health service since the dawn of time, the black sheep of the family brushed under the carpet - now it's gaining more prominence but  this needs to effect change, not just push politically-minded people to choose a side to blame. We need to hold those in charge in our health trusts, hospitals, council chambers and Houses of Parliament to account but we need to make sure we're doing this constructively.

This girl is already a victim of a system not set up to actually care for those in real need. By highlighting her story we (and by we I mean anyone who cares about mental health - which really should be us all) can push those in charge to do better. To introduce new rules to ensure this doesn't happen again. To assign some value to the vast proportion of people in our society with mental health issues. To make her the last (but sadly not the only) treated this way.

It's about not only having the conversation but having it in a constructive way (Saying: I went through the system and think it could be improved for patients in this way/asking MPs to raise it in Parliament/querying how the money for mental health is spent) not simply using it as an opportunity to shout 'you're rubbish' at people.

Because let's not forget behind the stats, the well used 'one in four' figure and the headlines - there is a girl. A frightening, confused, very poorly girl. A girl thrown in a cell used for the rapists, murderers and paedophiles of our society for the 'crime' of being unwell. A girl who, if she had any number of physical health issues, would never be treated this way. A girl whose family and friends will be at breaking point right now. A girl who will not be helped by onlookers throwing spiteful politically-loaded words at others. A girl who just wants someone to tell her it will all be okay and not only that - but to actually then make it okay.

The Mask

Don't be fooled by me
Don't be fooled by the face I wear,
for I wear a thousand masks,
masks that I'm afraid to take off,
and none of them is me.

Pretending is an art which is second nature to me -
but don't be fooled, for God's sake don't be fooled.

I give the impression that I'm secure, sunny and unruffled,
within as well as without,
that confidence is my name and coolness my game,
that the water's calm and I'm in command, and that I need no-one.

But don't believe me. Please.

That surface may seem smooth,
but my surface is my mask.
Beneath this lies no complacency.
Beneath dwells the real me in confusion,
in fear and aloneness.

But I hide this. I don't want anyone to know it.

I panic at the thought of my weakness and fear of being exposed.
That's why I frantically create a mask to hide behind,
a nonchalant, sophisticated facade to help me to pretend,
to shield me from the glance that knows.

But such a glance is precisely my salvation,
my only salvation, and I know it - that is,
if it is followed by acceptance,
if it is followed by Love;

it is the only thing which will assure me
of what I can't assure myself -
that I'm worth something.

But I don't tell you this. I don't dare, I'm afraid to - afraid your glance will not
be followed by acceptance, will not be followed by Love.

I'm afraid that you will think less of me,
that you will laugh at me,
and your laugh would kill me!
I'm afraid that deep down I'm nothing, that I'm no good,
and that you will see this and reject me.

So I play my game, my desperate game,
with a facade of assurance without,
and a trembling child within.

And so begins the parade of masks. And my life becomes a front.

I chatter idly to you of superficialities.
I tell you everything that is really nothing,
and nothing of what is everything -
of what is crying within me.

So when I'm going through my routine,
do not be fooled by what I'm saying,
what I'd like to be able to say,
what, for survival, need to say but can't.

I dislike hiding - honestly! I dislike the phoney game I'm playing.

I'd really like to be genuine and spontaneous and me.
You've got to hold out your hand
even when that is the last thing that I seem to want.

Only you can wipe away from my eyes the blank stare of breathing death.
only you can call me to aliveness.

Each time you are kind and gentle and encouraging,
each time you try to understand because you really care,
my heart begins to grow wings,
very small wings,
very feeble wings,
but wings!

With your sensitivity and sympathy and your power of understanding
you can breathe life into me.

I want you to know that. I want you to know how important you are to me, how

You alone can break down the wall behind which I tremble.
You alone can remove my mask.
You alone can release me from my shadow-world of panic and uncertainty,
from my lonely person.

Do not pass me by.
Please do not pass me by.
It will not be easy for you.

A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls.
The more closely you approach me, the more blindly I strike back.

But I am told that love is stronger than walls,
and in this lies my hope.
Please try to beat down those walls with firm hands
but with gentle hands...for a child is very sensitive.

Who am I, you may wonder?
I am someone you know very well,
for I am every man that you meet,
and I am every woman that you meet.

Chair's welcome for our poetry night

I'd like to talk to you all about a subject close to my heart

No one was looking at mental health so we made a start

We wanted to bring it up as an important topic

Because when people ignore it, that's what gets on our wick

We held a meeting last May to see who would come

And since then we've done loads of work and had lots of fun

Fundraising's our aim to bring services to the town

And driving the stigma around it right down

We believe mental health is on a par with the physical stuff

And those who cope with illnesses are really quite tough

It's hard to find doctors who help and can seem like a task

We want there to be services out there when people ask

Thanks for coming to listen to a few poems tonight

We hope you'll think about donating to make the future bright

If you want to come along and get involved in MHAG

There's a monthly meeting, you won't find it a drag

In between we go to lots of different places

So you might think you've already seen our faces

If you want more information please come and find me

Or Beccy Blake who's my right hand lady

For now I'll end this poem and say goodnight

Because some of my rhymes are really quite shi...

MHAG mentoring launch event

 

We would like to invite you to the launch of a new project in Redditch which has been formed from the Mental Health Action Group led by Rebecca Blake and Harriet Ernstsons. The event is on

Tuesday 2nd December at Redditch Town Hall  5.30pm - 7pm

A glass of wine or tea/ coffee and light refreshments will be available on the evening.

The event is to raise awareness of the work that MHAG is doing in the community by providing regular one to one support from life coaches to residents with low level mental health issues. It will also provide you with an opportunity to network and meet other local business, statutory and third sector organisations and learn about new initiatives from RBC about promoting well- being at work.

Please join Rebecca, Harriet and the MHAG team and learn about new projects in the Borough to promote well being.

RSVP

redditchmhag@gmail.com
07788 379389

Harriet & Rebecca

MHAG Redditch