I often find myself using analogies when I engage with the conversation surrounding mental health as I feel as well as normalising the conversation, it also allows those who sometimes fail to grasp the full extent of what I am trying to communicate gain a greater clarity to the points I am trying to make. It brings an element of relatability, which for me is at the core of effective and impactful communication.
Last week I spoke at an incredibly enlightening and personable address in the National University of Galway alongside my friend and associate Dr. Paul D’Alton regarding the crisis of mental health in Ireland, and what can be done to improve the well-being of our nation. Afterwards we had an emotional and liberating questions and answers session with the attendees which, once again, brought up many gaping issues within our mental health system.
One young lady spoke of how after waiting months for access to a therapist and counsellor, while in an acutely distressed state, she was given a different counsellor each time she attended the unit. With this she had to re-establish her harrowing and difficult story to a new person on every occasion, while her GP outlined how all he could now do at this point was prescribe her medication and change the dosage if needs be. This young lady could not afford private care, and the only way she could get consistent and focused attention was if she could pay for a therapist herself, which she was in no position to do.
Now, this is where the analogy comes in, and I do this without in any way taking from the seriousness of this young ladies journey.
If you were a rugby/GAA/soccer player, and every week you turned up on the training pitch to prepare for a match you were met with a different coach, with a different game plan, with a different outlook on the tactics and systems, do you think there would be any coherence or cohesiveness in the team when they set foot on the pitch to play? There would be no trust, focus or shared values and the reality is, there would more than likely be no team.
Now relate that to the young lady in Galway’s situation. She has taken the difficult first steps of accessing support and care to help her deal with her mental health issues, and every time she goes to get that help she is greeted by a stranger. There is no trust, no bond, no shared humanity. She has to re hash her story over and over to a different face, and this is seen as an effective recovery strategy?
Consistency is critically important when it comes to developing personal and emotive connections, and only when these bonds are created can real therapy exist. The person has to feel like they are connected intrinsically before they allow themselves be unmasked at a deeply exposing level. In my case, only when I was at this point of connectivity did I begin to rebuild my own mental health and take true solace from therapy. You cannot pass a vulnerable and distressed human being around like they are just box ticked patients throughout a day. A recovery strategy must be constructed upon a consistent and well monitored plan.
Currently many parts of our mental system are deeply flawed. On the same night I spoke with many people working within the system and they are as demoralised and lost as to why mental health is not resourced adequately in this country. People like this young lady are being thrown into an almost life lottery and told that this is all that can be done for them.
It’s not okay, it’s not acceptable, it’s time for a change.
In the coming months we will have a new government. Let’s make it loud and clear to them that they currently stand over a broken system and we won’t tolerate it anymore. Put people first. As Dr. D’Alton said that very evening, don’t let GDP be the gauge of which we measure the success of a country, especially when very little of that economic growth goes to our broken health ystem. Make the happiness, equality and wellness of those within that society as the real measure. After all, isn’t that what the Proclamation of 1916 built its message around?