Nine years after the publication of ‘A Vision for Change’, the mental health needs of society’s most vulnerable groups are still not adequately addressed, writes June Shannon.
People with an intellectual disability (ID) and mental illness, those with co-morbid severe mental illness and substance abuse difficulties, or the homeless — these are some of the most at-risk groups in terms of their mental health. Yet nine years after the publication of the Government’s mental health policy ‘A Vision for Change’ (‘AVFC’), sadly very little, if anything, has changed for these marginalised groups.
The lack of progress in the development of mental health services for these populations has been highlighted in a wide-ranging progress report on the implementation of ‘A Vision for Change’, carried out by Mental Health Reform (MHR).
In its report, ‘A Vision for Change Nine Years On’, a coalition analysis of progress, MHR described the implementation of the national mental health policy as “incomplete and uneven”, despite pockets of innovation. One area in which it was clear that implementation had been almost non-existent was in the provision of mental health services to specialist or high-risk groups.
The lack of any real progress in the development of mental health services for these marginalised groups is not news. The issue has been consistently raised by successive monitoring groups established to oversee the implementation of ‘AVFC’ since 2006.
Source: June Shannon, Irish Medical Times, 16/06/15
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