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Peter Black and South Wales West Liberal DemocratsRepresenting Aberavon, Bridgend, Gower, Neath, Ogmore, Port Talbot, and Swansea |
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More help needed for workers with mental health difficulties says AM
January 5, 2009 12:00 AM
Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Minister Peter Black has added his voice to those calling for better support for working people and jobseekers with mental health problems.
Mr. Black was speaking in the light of last month's joint report from the College of Occupational Therapists and the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health which has pointed to a chronic shortage of the skilled professionals needed to get people with mental health problems into work and keep them there.
Mr. Black said:
"The experience of the last recession was that many people with mental health difficulties were lost to the workforce and ended up labeled as incapable of work. However, it is clear that being in productive work is good both for people with mental health problems and the economy alike.
"What is needed is a commitment from the UK government to fund the extra training places needed for more occupational therapists, and to provide resources for better support to employers so that they know what changes to make to either retain or employ someone who suffers in this way, and can afford to introduce them.
"In Wales as in the rest of the UK, one in five of us will experience mental health problems at some stage in our lives and the stress caused by the present recession will only make matters worse. That is why we need more funding that to tackle this problem now. Without that government plans to help people with mental health problems to find and keep a job will fail."
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