With the economic uncertainty, people will suffer extra stress and anxiety in 2009, writes Tony Bates
ON THE eve of a new year that promises to be stressful, many people are experiencing what the books used to call "free-floating anxiety". This is the feeling that there is some danger lurking in the shadows, some indefinable threat that cannot be clearly pinned down, but whose existence is undisputable and ominous.
Many people in our families and communities, in our schools and in our workplaces, will be touched by mental health problems in the coming year. For all of them, they will need someone to talk to, someone who knows them and believes in them.
For some - those who feel completely overwhelmed - they will need something more; someone who has the knowledge and the skills to help them make sense of their distress and gradually get on top of things.
What are the chances that people will find the supports they need in the year ahead?
How open will we be as a community to carrying one another and how effective will our mental health services be to respond to those who will have a need of skilful interventions?
I would like to think we are a little more open about how everyone hurts and how everyone needs a personal touch from time to time.
I would like to believe that we had gotten over our fear and shame of mental ill-health, and that we now appreciate that 50 per cent of us will experience mental health problems at some stage in our lives. That psychological suffering is an inevitable part of all our lives; and that sometimes it can be overwhelming.
The human psyche throws up demons from time to time to frighten us; buried wounds and fears that we meet in our dreams and in our everyday lives. But never before have there been so many options for people to come to terms with their demons - therapies of every kind. Most of these therapies involve talking to achieve healing, but others allow us to work things out through art, drama, dance, meditation and music.
I believe we have a unique chance in 2009 to make Ireland a place where we are less afraid of their inner lives; where we start listening to the stories of those who have weathered severe emotional storms and allow their stories to teach us to believe in our inner strength.
Where we become more aware of those who are trying to tell us they are in pain and build communities that are resilient and supportive places to live.
These aspirations are neither sentimental nor idealistic. Everything I've written has been endorsed and agreed by our Government in our national mental health policy A Vision for Change. For those involved in the articulation of this vision, there is a sense of growing frustration that it's proving so difficult to make it a reality on the ground.
I believe that 2009 is a year for everyone to advocate for a positive response to the mental health needs of people in Ireland.
There are forces at work that personally give me reason to believe we can make the coming year a landmark year in mental health reform - we have a leader who is serious and committed to driving the mental health agenda in Minister John Maloney and community opinion has reached a tipping point where it now insists on something new being done to reduce suicide, stigma and mental health related crime, which have caused immense pain to so many people.
Service users, current and past, are speaking from their experience and demanding a more compassionate and effective mental health service.
There are also people throughout the so-called "system" who are listening. People who care deeply about improving our nation's mental health.
They are scattered throughout Government departments, they cross party lines, they are to be found in agencies that develop policy, conduct research and monitor the quality of our services; they work in HSE clinics, in NGOs and in community action groups all across the State.
These people are the champions of mental health. What is remarkable about them is that despite being repeatedly discouraged and sabotaged in their efforts to achieve change, they haven't given up.
They have heard the voices of men, women and children across the country who are being ignored and neglected, and they continue to work for change. And more than ever before in our history, these policy-makers, service providers and community leaders are talking to each other and working together.
There are so many people who want mental health given the priority it deserves - 2009 is the time to make this happen.
Tony Bates is founding director of Headstrong, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health (www.headstrong.ie)