Joint Congress Disability Committee Seminar Friday 1 April 2011 Clarion Hotel, Dublin Airport Deirdre McNamee Health and Social Wellbeing Improvement Senior Officer

Policy Context Promoting Mental Health Strategy and Action Plan (currently being rewritten) Policy Development Improving Knowledge and Skills Raising awareness and reducing discrimination Preventing Suicide

Protect Life a Shared Vision the Northern Ireland Suicide Prevention Strategy and Action Plan Whole Population Approach Targeted Approach

Bamford Review of Mental Health and Learning Disability in Northern Ireland. ( ) Joint DHSSPS/HSE All-island 10 point action plan for suicide prevention

The Economic Case The total cost of Mental Health problems to employers is estimated at £26 billion per year in the UK Department of Work and Pensions estimate that £30 to £40 billion is lost to the economy due to Mental Ill health In 2007 around 40% of all days lost due to sickness absence were a result of mental ill health.

District Councils sickness absence for : stress, depression, mental ill health and fatigue accounted for 23% of lost working days costing around £3.5 million.

Background and Rationale 2007 DHSSPS Commissioned HPA Current Issues  Funding structures  Perspectives on relationship between Mental Health and Suicide Prevention  Overlapping training objectives  Terminology

Aims of the review  To establish what training is currently delivered  To identify gaps in training provision and evaluation  To make recommendations about future developments and delivery of training, including recommendations about regional standards and quality assurance structures.

Process Consultation Data base established Regional seminars Mapping exercise Scoping exercises Regional training advisory group

Quality assurance of training programmes & training delivery Sustainability – costings and availability of trainers Links with other strategic developments – clear working partnerships Particular needs within specific settings & addressing diversity Accessible information about availability of programmes Coordination of key regional programmes & support for local delivery Needs of whole population & specific target groups Selection of and support for trainers & training providers Involvement of service users, carers & those directly affected by suicide EMERGING THEMES Emerging themes

Levels of training Level 1 Level 2 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 L1 – Whole population - awareness raising L2 – Carers/helpers – skills & knowledge development L3 – Professional - clinical interventions

Challenges Addressing needs of whole population and targeting ‘at risk’ groups Working across sectors, settings and life stages Links to other strategic developments Sustainability Making the connection between mental health promotion and suicide prevention Evidence of Effectiveness

Key recommendations Regional infrastructure Searchable database Regional Training Standards Commissioning criteria Training Advisory Group

Regional Training Programmes Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Applied Suicide Prevention Skills Training (ASIST) Work Well

Aims of MHFA To preserve life where the person may be a danger to themselves or others To preserve life where the person may be a danger to themselves or others To prevent the mental health problem becoming more serious To prevent the mental health problem becoming more serious To promote the recovery of good mental health To promote the recovery of good mental health To provide comfort to a person experiencing a mental health problem To provide comfort to a person experiencing a mental health problem

A setting has been described as: “a place or social context in which people engage in daily activities in which environmental, organisational and personal factors interact to affect health and well-being”. (Ref: Nutbeam 1998)

Work Well is a process that can be used by small and large organisations throughout Northern Ireland to develop and implement their own workplace health programmes. What is Work Well?

Work Well 3 Key business areas

Does it work? The Work Well model is based on international best practice. This type of model has gained recognition as one of the few approaches that is successful in improving the health and wellbeing of an organisation and its staff. Work Well was successfully piloted amongst 20 business within Northern Ireland. The results from the evaluation were very positive

There is evidence to suggest that; “investment in healthy working practices and the health and wellbeing of employees improves productivity and is cost effective for businesses and wider society” (Coats and Max 2005, Dunham 2001, Foresight 2008)

Why bother about workplace health? A happy workforce is a healthy business!

Public Information Campaigns Promoting Mental Health Strategy and Action Plan ( ) “by September 2005 develop a public and professional information campaign to raise awareness and understanding of mental health issues and reduce stigma attached to mental health” Protect Life: a shared vision the Northern Ireland Suicide Prevention Strategy and action plan ( ) “by 2007 to develop and implement a suicide awareness information campaign which helps to destigmatise mental health and encourage help seeking behaviour”

Public Attitudes to Mental Health 63% underestimated the proportion of people who might have a mental health problem at some time in their lives. 98% agreed that anyone can experience mental health problems. 54% said that if they were experiencing mental health problems they wouldn’t want people knowing about it. 46% said that they would be afraid of experiencing mental health problems themselves in the future.

Quotes from focus groups “Its like how I felt. I could see myself in that situation” (young male :suicide attempted) “That was just me last year” (young male :suicide attempted) “I can relate BIG time to that” (Suicide Awareness Group: older males) “We all wear masks, everybody does. You go to your work and you put on a brave face and you go home and you take it off” (Male Portadown) Phase 2 – concept development

Campaign impact on activity %

Self Care  One thing you will do to look after your own mental health.  One thing you will consider doing within your workplace/setting to promote mental health.

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