Last Friday, I organised a mental health summit so that stakeholders from around Somerset could meet to discuss the state of mental healthcare in the county. We met at the wonderful Heads Up in South Horrington and in the room were representatives of the County Council, Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group, Somerset Partnership NHS Trust, Citizens Advice Bureau, Mind, Alzheimer’s Society, Somerset Community Foundation, Strode College and many more besides. I am grateful to them all for joining me and for contributing so freely.
We discussed a range of issues from mental health and young people, through to the challenges of an ageing population, community facilities and better engagement with the charitable sector. There are issues over funding which I will report back to Government and there were concerns raised that many of the organisations involved in delivering mental health care and support did not know what each other does and how to get in touch. The County Council will now be looking at ways to make that information more readily available so that clinicians, carers and charities can be more empowered to access what is there.
However, another outcome from the meeting is that we need to make our communities more accepting on mental health. Many people would rush to the aid of someone bleeding in the street. Far fewer would help someone in the midst of a mental health crisis. Many say they wouldn’t know what to do or whether it’s appropriate to intervene at all. That’s fine, but if we’ve made a point of learning a little bit of first aid, shouldn’t we also make a point of learning a little about mental health too?