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Mental Health Awareness Week

This week marks Mental Health Awareness Week. This year the theme is Action.

PCC, like the Minister for Health, recognises that Mental Health is a vitally important aspect to individual and societal wellness in Northern Ireland. After listening to the public, the importance of Mental Health was recognised by the PCC’s Council as an operational priority in our Statement of Strategic Intent.

Action to improve mental health can take many forms, some of which is at an individual level of what we can do to improve our own mental health and help others to improve theirs. The PCC also works with inspiring members of the public who are also willing and keen to share their lived experience of mental health issues to help improve Mental Health Services and delivery for all.

PCC runs a Mental Health Engagement Platform for those with lived experience of mental health services. An Engagement Platform is a space to bring together a group of people, with a common interest and lived experience, to work together and make change in health and social care. Engagement Platforms allow participants to communicate their experiences and thoughts, related to a policy programme, with the PCC, as well as being able to share their views directly with decision-makers in health and social care. Engagement Platforms are a significant opportunity for decision makers in health and social care to have meaningful input from experts by experience, in service areas under review, development and reform. The also help PCC achieve our statutory functions, of representing the interests of the public and promoting the involvement of the public.

Our Mental Health Engagement Platform members continue to influence and shape Mental Health strategies and policy, including the development of Northern Ireland’s Regional Mental Health Service (RMHS) refreshed implementation plan.

Over the past year the Platform have engaged with numerous projects including:

✅ Providing experiences to Northern Ireland Practice and Education Council for Nursing and Midwifery who had sought service user engagement/lived experience with Mental Health Nursing

✅ Contributing to Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Lived (NIAS) experience voice and to NIAS Corporate Strategy

✅ One Platform member took part in a post graduate student’s short video to talk about Mental Health services in Northern Ireland

✅ Two platform members along with the Regional Service User Consultant SPPG organised and facilitated ‘From Engagement to Empowerment’ workshop. This was attended by all 5 HSC trusts, PHA. SPPG and Community and Voluntary sector representatives as well as service user, carers and platform members

✅ Worked alongside the Regional Service User Consultant to develop a refreshed three implementation plan for the next three years for the RMHS

✅ Members shared their lived experience on the development of a Deliverability Report to identify priorities within the Mental Health Strategy

Through our People to Partners work PCC have been seeking to achieve a cultural shift in the Health and Social Care system’s relationship with the public - one where we 'do with', not 'for' - to drive wellbeing and improve services in Northern Ireland.

We commend our engagement platform members for the continued Action they take to improve Mental Health Services and wellbeing in Northern Ireland.

Find out more about the work of the Engagement Platform here: Mental Health

You can also view a video message from our Engagement Platform member Ross, talking about the benefits of becoming a PCC Engagement Platform member.