Politicians and public unite in call on Minister to tackle mental health strategy failings exposed by Covid crisis

Political parties and civil society organisations have jointly called on the Minister for Health to improve Stormont’s 10-year Mental Health Strategy to provide timely access to counselling services.
 
All of the main political parties (with the exception of the UUP and TUV) and dozens of civil society organisations have signed up to a Consensus on Counselling Statement, developed by the 123GP campaign.
 
The statement calls on the Health Minister, Robin Swann, to “fix the problems with access to counselling in the immediate term.”
 
Campaigners and advocates have asked Mr Swann to insert provisions into Stormont’s draft Mental Health Strategy for adequate resourcing of counselling services, in-house GP counselling services, and a targeted wait time for appointments of 28 days.
 
Signatories include the DUP, Sinn Féin, Alliance, SDLP, the Green Party and People Before Profit, as well as major counselling bodies and organisations including mental health and suicide awareness and prevention charities, trade union and student union bodies, and women’s, youth and community sector organisations.
 
The Consensus Statement follows the publication in February 2021 of an interactive map by the 123GP campaign, which highlighted the postcode lottery that exists in relation to access to counselling through GP practice.
 
Steve Mulligan, British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, representing 1,600 counsellors in the North, said there is not a shortage of counsellors available to work.
“There is a ready-made, under deployed workforce willing and able to support even more people,” he said.
 
“Investment needs to be in place to ensure equal access to high quality support everywhere, ending the postcode lottery.”
 
Kellie Turtle, a feminist activist who has written of her own personal experience of accessing counselling, identified lengthy waiting times as a major barrier to access.
 
“I suspect that the system is the main barrier, making it a less attractive option for GPs to present to their patients due to waiting times and lack of availability.
 
“By failing to commit to resourcing counselling services and ensuring genuine accountability around access times, the Health and Social Care Board and the Health Department are putting frontline healthcare workers in an impossible situation.”