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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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Good Mental Health
August 19, 2009 12:00 AM
By Peter Black in Western Mail
By Peter Black in Western Mail
Last month I spent a very interesting day with Mental Health Social Workers in the City and County of Swansea learning more about the work that they do and the excellent service they provide in conjunction with the local Health Trust.
Mental health and wellbeing services have been historically under-resourced both in Wales and throughout the UK. Such a position is surprising given the incidence of debilitating mental health problems among the population.
The figures are striking. One in four of us will suffer from a mental illness at some point in our lives, and one in seven will suffer to a sufficient degree as to warrant therapeutic intervention at some level.
The incidence of that all-pervasive but ill-defined condition 'stress' is on the increase both for those in work and the increasing number of us without it. We can speculate long and hard as to why this is; the pace of modern life, the sense of being at the mercy of forces that one cannot easily control if at all, the loosening of community ties, all these and more have been cited.
However, the trick is not to merely speculate, but to help, and more particularly, to enable those with mental health problems to view their lives positively and live them in an active and dynamic manner.
That is why I find myself drawn to the concept of recovery in mental health and wellbeing. It is an optimistic idea that frees the individual from passive acceptance of 'their condition' and from an over-reliance on the professionals.
Recovery talks about the importance of hope and how that hope can be nurtured by the process of developing one's life. It allows professionals and patients to work together as partners in building wellbeing and strength into their lives of those self-same patients, and it recognises that positive engagement with the communities that patients are already part of is a vital part of life and hence of recovery.
Most of all, it enables everybody to see that a patient is much more than a bundle of symptoms and illnesses to be treated and cured. It is a more holistic and hence a more truly human way of giving patients the freedom and dignity to lead their lives in their own way.
There is another reason for promoting the concept of recovery.
Quite apart form the obvious gain to the individual in terms of increasing their sense of personal identity, and of wellbeing that I have already referred to; there is a clear gain to Welsh society as a whole.
It cannot be the case that each person's success in building a satisfying life in which they set and achieve personal goals is something which happens in isolation, away from society.
Every man, and woman who builds a good and satisfying life in the teeth of their symptoms, whether their condition is chronic or episodic, is benefiting not only themselves but the community in which they live.
It also means an investment by the Welsh Government in supported housing and easily accessible mental health provision. If we are going to adopt the recovery model in which patients are helped to overcome their health issues whilst being rehabilitated in the community then GPs need to employ some mental health expertise to work with them in their health centres. At present they largely act as a referral point passing on patients to hospitals and other health professionals working in secondary care. That needs to change.
There are around 2.3 million of us here in Wales, which makes us a small nation. That being the case, we cannot afford to waste anybody's gifts and talents. Applying the concept of recovery to the way we deliver mental health and wellbeing in Wales is both good for each individual and for us as a nation.
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