Mental Health Bill brings light of hope

UNITED FRONT Cross-party support for new mental-health legislation is the perfect Christmas gift.

COMMUNITY spirit is alive and well as festive lights are illuminated across the county. These lights bring hope to lonely hearts. They bring a sense of connection to those who have felt isolated over recent months. They help to brighten the early morning and late night journeys for all those frontline workers – in hospitals and nursing homes, shops and schools – who have kept our worlds ticking over since last March.
Despite the challenges we have faced for the past nine months because of the coronavirus pandemic, our resilience shines through in so many little things. Here in Westport, where the Mayo News offices are based, the twinkling outline of the historic Railway Hotel on the Mall, across from St Mary’s Church, is a perfect example of this town’s long-held ethos of volunteerism and generosity.
From Achill Sound to Killala, Louisburgh to Ballinrobe and beyond, the glimmering of lights on our streets has never been more welcome. The anticipation of Christmas is putting a pep in all our steps. Coming out of Level 5 restrictions during the last week has provided much-needed financial relief for all those non-essential retail shops and parts of the hospitality industry. It is wonderful to see shutters up again, shop doors open, the smell of coffee wafting out of cafes, busy streets. Even queues to our carparks in Castlebar and Ballina have a different sense to them. People are more accepting of waiting, less impatient, more compassionate and tolerant.
This is despite the fact that our mental health has been frayed by the fears caused by this pandemic. Our emotional wellbeing has been on a rollercoaster, and so, perhaps, the time has never been more appropriate for the stigmas attached to such human frailties to be taken from under the carpet, out of the closet, and addressed in a mature way as a society.

Parity of esteem
Thus it is timely that the Mental Health Parity of Esteem Bill 2020 has passed through the second stage in the DΡil and will now wind its way to committee debate.
This overdue legislation aims to place ‘mental health on parity with physical health; to improve provision of mental health services; to increase the quality of care for those in mental health services; and to provide for related matters’.
It is to be welcomed that this Private Member’s Bill, brought by Sinn Féin Deputy Mark Ward, has received cross-party support. Speaking in the DΡil during its second stage debate in late November, he said: “For too long mental health has been the Cinderella of the health service. Years of neglect, underinvestment and lack of political will have led to systemic failures in the mental health service. This is a bill of hope. It is a vital legislative measure that will elevate the plight of people seeking mental health supports to the forefront.”
He cited the fact that when the Government just recently launched its winter plan for health, there was no mention of mental health in the plan.
That beggars belief. Particularly during a time when this pandemic is exposing all sorts of cracks in the mental-health supports for young and old.
However, Fianna FΡil’s Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler’s responses during this debate has engendered hope; a real hope that our party-political system can sometimes work together for the good of the people it represents. Commending those who contributed, she said the cross-party contributions underlined a ‘shared goal of a mental health system that reaches the highest possible standards’.
If the stresses and strains we have all endured during this period have taught us anything it is that the human race is not invincible – no matter how materially wealthy we have become in the western world.
Significantly, this legislation, when enacted, will give more balanced power and resources to the many dedicated professionals and organisations in this complex sector of our society.
Like the shimmering lights that are taking the darkness out of this winter across our county, hope has never been more important.