Debate contribution: Mental Illness: Reducing Stigma

Debate contribution by Mr Colin McGrath on 21 January 2025.

MLA

Mr Colin McGrath

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

21 January 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Mental Illness: Reducing Stigma

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4749676

Read the official Assembly record

Text

It might surprise some, but I support the motion, even though it is from one Executive party to another. It is really important that we send out a clear message from all parties on the need to reduce the stigma. I welcome the motion because the words that we use in this place and the message that we send can and will act as a beacon of hope for some people that might be enough to get them through and beyond the issues that they face. It is important that we take that opportunity. The Minister has been a strong advocate in the area of mental health and will send that equal message out from here today. That will let people know that we are on their side and are trying to do everything that is possible. It will also let them know that we recognise that there is more that we can do and that we will strive to do more.

Yes, of course.

I thank the Member for his intervention. His message is the underlying one that we want to send out today. We must also recognise that the stigma around mental health exists. As many Members have said, we would be naive to think that it does not. There are two approaches to reducing the stigma. First, for adults, we can reduce it through the work that we do, the help that we provide, the words that we use and the messages that are sent out. In our contributions, each of us has concentrated on a different sector of people. I want to speak up for young people, because the first hurdle for the many who suffer from mental health issues is wondering, "Am I the only person who has this? Are there other people like this? I've never felt like this before". They almost have to get over the hurdle of identifying that it is a mental health issue, because nobody gives a rule book to people when they are born that says, "That is what anxiety feels like" or, "That is what depression feels like". They have to have services around them that they can reach out to so that they can understand what mental health is, and then we need to push them beyond that to get to the services. Hopefully, by sending out a message that we want to reduce that, we can help young people in our community. There is another element to the stigma and the work that we do here and how we can help to motivate society to move on. I am always struck by this: I live in the shadow of the Downshire Hospital in Downpatrick. There is a map in my old place of work that was about 100 years old — it is maybe about 115 years old at this stage — and it was listed on the map as the "Lunatic Asylum". I see how we have moved on: that is not the sort of terminology that we use. Some of the older people among my neighbours — the houses were populated by people who worked in the hospital — were able to tell me the stories of the individuals who were there. Many of the reasons for people being left in a place such as the Downshire were things that, nowadays, we would have utter disbelief at: maybe being a single parent, having a form of anxiety or being a little bit depressed. Their families brought them up, left them and went away. I was always touched by the story that, when somebody had passed away, they had to go round the staff to see whether they could get pall-bearers to bring them to the graveyard that is part of that complex, because the families were not there for them. We have moved on an awful lot; so much so that people who would have formerly lived in that institution now live in houses in my street. We welcome them as our neighbours and friends. We all live together in the street and all know one another. That is how much we have moved on. We need to continue with that work to address the issues that we can. One such issue, as referenced, is the mental health strategy. Again, it is not funded to the level that it should be. We need to fund it to a level that will allow the continued work that will help to address the stigma. I took the opportunity, in advance of today, to talk to a number of my constituents and ask them about their views. Some of the things that they said were enlightening, because they remind us of the daily experience that people have. Parents of children with anxiety who are waiting to be seen by child and adolescent mental health services said that the wait increases their anxiety rather than helping to address it. They feel that they are just left to manage and to get by without any help. I have been told about the impact of childhood trauma and the need for ADHD assessments for people who are sick, sore and tired of hearing that no support is available and are asking for help and being denied it. As one parent said to me, "People like ourselves deserve better because we already go through enough. We are battling every day as it is, so we need to see things change". That said, it takes enormous courage to change things. I implore the Minister — he knows the funding issues — to take that courageous step and find what funding he can for the mental health strategy, so that we can get it out and provide more services. Then, if people are accessing services, hopefully that will help to reduce the stigma.

970 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:47 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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