A GRASSROOTS mental health group has unveiled a new strategy, calling for a rights-based response to the mental health crisis.

New Script for Mental Health is made up of activists with lived experience of the broken mental health system.

On Monday, the group unveiled a new ‘Give 5’ signage at a bench in the Falls Park calling for action on the wider social and political causes of poor mental health.

The signage offers an alternative to the Public Health Agency's 'Take 5' campaign.

While Take 5 encourages individuals to take steps to support their own wellbeing, New Script’s Give 5 asks what needs to change around people – in communities, public services and government – so that people have a genuine opportunity to live well.

The campaign argues that mental health cannot be separated from the circumstances in which people live.

The launch event, organised as part of Féile na Carraige, was attended by activists, members of the public and singer Gráinne Holland who was invited as a special guest.

The event comes at a time when the north is facing a deepening mental health crisis, while the response from those in power remains focused on what individuals can do to manage their own wellbeing.

Kirsty Scott, activist with New Script for Mental Health, said: “We can’t keep telling people to cope while ignoring what is making people distressed in the first place.

“People are living with poverty, inequality, racism, isolation, homelessness, and other forms of insecurity, while services are under enormous pressure. We need to be honest about what is happening and start addressing the conditions that are driving distress.

“This is about going upstream. If we want better mental health, we have to look at the causes of distress, not simply ask people to become better at coping with the consequences.

“Give 5 asks a much more difficult question: What are we as a society prepared to change?”

Magz Gibney, New Script activist, added: “People deserve more than advice about self-care when the circumstances of their lives are making them unwell. We need action on the inequalities, systems and power structures that shape people’s lives.”