People bring their own unique story to therapy but for many there is a common thread – the roadblocks in trying to get the help once they feel they can ask for it.
The story sounds something like this:
“I went to my GP because I’ve been feeling anxious and haven’t been getting much sleep. He suggested counselling and gave me my options. I have a medical card and the HSE Counselling in Primary Care could help – but the waiting list is 3 – 9 months and I can’t wait that long. My GP recommended local private counsellors but I just don’t have the €60-€100 per week it will cost. What am I going to do now?
The citizens of Ireland desperately need to be able to tell another story. The story above could be told by your neighbour, your friend, your mother, your son, your father, your daughter – the man or woman on the street. Everyone feels distressed at some time in their lives – this is normal. People often move through this time of distress by taking good care of themselves and with the help of family or friends. However, sometimes without the right professional help at this time, distress can spiral into crisis.
If you don’t have the money to see a counsellor or psychotherapist weekly and you can’t access the stretched public services, you run out of options. Unfortunately, when many people finally gain access to the public mental health system in Ireland, they are at the end of the spiral of distress – they feel they have no options – they may be actively suicidal or have attempted suicide.
The system requires an attitude shift. Psychological distress needs the same consideration as chest pains. It would be a national outrage if people with chest pains were told if you’re not having a heart-attack we can’t see you now. As a nation, we are becoming more aware of actively looking after our mental health and as a result many more people are seeking help before they spiral into crisis.
In fact, we are learning that talk therapy can benefit those of us who are not in distress – it can help us take care of ourselves and others and prepare us to cope with life’s inevitable difficulties. Culturally, the attitude shift is happening – people are talking with a friend about their constant worry; they are talking to a teacher about the dread they feel in the pit of their stomach every day, they are speaking with their brother about not wanting to go to work, or school because of the bullying they face every day… and so on. These are difficult conversations but asking for help is a significant turning point. It should not be difficult to get access to professional counselling and psychotherapy once you make the first steps to ask for help.
Community and political discourse about mental health challenges the stigma around this issue, acting as a catalyst for much needed progress. It will take time before the shifting cultural attitude to Mental Health becomes our Mental Health policy. However, it need not take years before looking after your emotional wellbeing is more important than how many points you get in your Leaving Cert, or before all employers treat employee’s mental health issues with the same empathy as they treat physical health issues. We can’t wait years until there is a public service pathway to support those in psychological distress, or for the unlikely event that the private sector will make services affordable. In order to avoid many more people falling through the cracks, we must shoulder the responsibility for what we can do now.
We can do this by helping to fill those cracks as individuals and at community level where the most progress is being made in the attitudes to mental health. Community Counselling and Psychotherapy services, like the one I work with Let’s Get Talking, offer affordable non-set fee community counselling and psychotherapy that fill the gap between public and private service provision. These services focus on a person’s need rather than their means and put an emphasis on preventing crisis through rapid access to services.
In mental health, our most valuable and readily available resource is each other. Change in individual attitude precedes cultural attitude change. Cultural attitude change precedes policy change – the story of same-sex marriage in Ireland is a prime example. Like everyday conversations with a friend about the book we’re reading or the great restaurant we went to, we are beginning to normalise talking about our emotions to each other.
We need to be telling our GPs, public health nurses, health workers, psychiatrists and public representatives that we want and need accessible counselling and other mental health services so they can drive change too. These conversations with each other, health professionals and public representatives challenge stigma and change individual and cultural attitudes to mental health issues. These conversations support community counselling and psychotherapy services and other community mental health organisations to continue their work. These conversations say to our friend, our brother, our daughter, our colleague, our neighbour that they need not feel shame about feeling low or anxious. These conversations support us all to seek help when we need it before psychological distress spirals into crisis. These tentative conversations happening now at kitchen tables, GP practices and online provide the inspiration in rewriting our Mental Health policy and improving mental health services for all.
For more information:
letsgettalkingdublin.ie
letsgettalkinggalway.ie
letsgettalkingdonegal.ie
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