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LONDON – Several months after the appointment of its premier of Solitude, Britain has appointed a suicide prevention minister as part of a new campaign to tackle mental health issues.
Prime Minister Theresa May announced Wednesday the appointment of Health Minister Jackie Doyle-Price to this new role. She will lead the government's efforts to reduce the number of suicides and overcome the stigma that prevents people with mental health problems from asking for help.
While suicide rates have declined in recent years, approximately 4,500 people commit suicide each year in England. According to government research, it remains the leading cause of death among men under 45 years of age.
"We can end the stigma that has forced too many people to suffer in silence," Ms. May said Wednesday at a reception on Downing Street, on the occasion of World Mental Health Day. . "We can prevent the tragedy of suicide from killing too many lives. And we can give the mental well-being of our children the priority they deserve so deeply. "
Mental health services in Britain have been increasingly in demand in recent years as demand grows in the context of the budget cuts imposed by the government's austerity policy over the last decade.
Lorna Heather, a 22-year-old mother of two, said that after being diagnosed with anxiety by her doctor last May, she had to wait eight months before getting an appointment. with a specialist.
"Some days, I was so anxious that I locked myself in a room for hours and that I was just thinking about committing suicide," Ms. Heather said during an interview at her home in Barrow-in. Furness, England, in Cumbria County, in the northwest of the country. "I came very close."
"I wanted help and local charities advised me to advise me, but my condition was more serious than the help that they could offer me."
Heather started following cognitive behavioral therapy in January, but after eight sessions, her therapy was transferred to a clinic one hour and fifteen minutes away because of staffing problems in her previous clinic.
"It's an hour there, followed by a 45-minute session, and then it takes over an hour to get back into two different buses," she said. "It's just not viable to take up so much of your day when you have young children."
After two sessions at the new clinic, Ms. Heather stated that she had stopped going there, even though her doctor had recommended six more months of treatment.
Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health, acknowledged Wednesday that mental health services were under-resourced as he embarked on a new initiative to put mental health on an equal footing with physical health.
"The truth is that for a very long time, mental health simply did not have the same level of support – both in terms of resources and how we talk about it as a society – in relation to physical health. we want to change that, "said Hancock in an interview for BBC Radio 4's" Today "show.
"There is a long way to go to get there," he added. "It's not something you solve overnight."
By appointing a Minister of Suicide Prevention, the government wants to make mental health a priority as new funding is poured into the National Health Service, Hancock said.
The Prime Minister has promised additional support for child and adolescent mental health services, with a new recruitment campaign of teams of specialists to tackle school problems and provide tools to measure the good mental being of the pupils.
Ms. May also announced funding for the Samaritans Hotline, a free, 24-hour, confidential hotline that offers help to people with suicidal thoughts and other mental health issues.
"Since becoming Minister of Health, I have met many people who have been bereaved by suicide and their stories of suffering and loss will be with me for a long time," said Doyle-Price in a statement on Wednesday.
"These are the people who must be at the heart of our activities and I am pleased to be able to work closely with them and with experts to oversee an intergovernmental suicide prevention plan, ensuring that their views are respected. always heard. ," she says.
According to the report, a quarter of young people in need of mental health services can not get help.
"The government must now guarantee a coherent and coordinated inter-sectoral response, as well as adequate levers to ensure that local actions respond to national ambitions," the audit concluded.
The mental health experts welcomed the government's new initiative, while urging ministers to present a detailed roadmap to ensure that new funding and initiatives meet the needs of those in need.
Marjorie Wallace, Executive Director of Sane, a charity specializing in the field of mental health, applauded the announcement but also warned that the government has not made enough improvement since it was he was committed to tackling mental health issues two years ago.
