Dr Colman Noctor: We need action, not mental health awareness days 

This is a good thing as the more people talking about mental health, the greater the awareness of mental health problems. 

Most young people understand the red flags that indicate they need to seek help for their mental health. 

The pressing problem is that they don’t have access to professional support when their symptoms are identified.

For years, the public message has been if you feel anxious or down, “talk to someone”. And while this is sound advice, it is not always feasible. Talk to who? 

Most mental health services have lengthy waiting times, and even families who can afford to fund private therapeutic interventions are no longer immune to wait lists.

Following every school talk or parents’ evening I facilitate, several parents will, without fail, approach me, asking for advice on what they should do about their child’s mental health. 

The sad reality is their options are so limited that I’m unable to give a satisfactory response.

The irony of World Mental Health Day falling on the same day the Government announced its yearly budget was not lost on me. 

The 2024 health budget will see spending on mental health rise to almost €1.3bn out of the total €22.5bn allocated to health. 

According to my calculations, this is not much more than the 5-6% of the health budget allocated to mental health in recent budgets.

Given the pandemic had been psychologically challenging for so many young people and the demand for psychological support is at an all-time high, I had expected the percentage of the overall health spend on mental health would have been considerably higher this year.

We’re in the depths of a cost-of-living and housing crisis, but our mental health services also desperately need support. 

News stories about long delays at the public child and adolescent mental health services and the staffing issues across all mental health services point to a crisis. 

The time for awareness hotlines and taskforces has passed, and a tangible investment in our mental health infrastructure is urgently required.

Mental fitness

Young people between 11 and 30 are far more likely to develop mental health problems than any other physical ailment, but the health budget has consistently failed to allocate funding to reflect this reality. 

The mental health services are often described as the “Cinderella” of HSE, a term used to describe its often invisible and forgotten role.

Establishing more mental health treatment centres is not the only solution — we need to invest in resources that help keep children mentally healthy or identify their psychological needs early on instead of continuously engaging in firefighting when children become mentally unwell.

Some might advocate that mental health awareness is the answer to this dilemma, but I am not convinced. 

We need more tangible initiatives focusing on mental fitness instead of simply promoting awareness of mental illness symptoms.

Merely listing common symptoms of a mental disorder and encouraging young people to recognise the warning signs and seek help has a limited impact.

Mental fitness is about having a series of social and emotional experiences that allow children to develop social savvy and emotional intelligence. 

These skills are not achieved through worksheets and seminars — they are honed in the laboratory of real-life experiences. 

It is through these experiences that we learn what makes us happy, what life experiences stress us out, and how to navigate life’s challenges and access support.

Social connections

Current mental health awareness models discuss the need for young people to be mindful of the physical benefits of good diet, sleep, and exercise on their mental fitness. 

They also encourage them to be more forgiving of themselves and to be aware of the risks of prolonged pressure and stress. 

But we also need to promote the role of social connections in maintaining mental fitness. 

With many young people reporting they feel isolated and lonely due to the emptiness of online communication, we need to emphasise the critical role of face-to-face interactions.

This is not only my opinion — a large 2014 Canadian study by Murnaghan and Morrison found a positive association between feelings of connectedness and mental fitness, promoting autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

We need to focus our resources on providing children with opportunities to exercise their social and emotional experience, which will lead to improved mental fitness. 

Especially now, given that our social and emotional experiences have been so negatively impacted due to the pandemic and we must ensure practical and tangible interventions that allow young people to have these opportunities are available. 

These supports are not in the form of more “mental illness services”; they are community-based outlets where young people can build their mental fitness and engage in social and emotional experiences.

I am not advocating for more wellbeing workbooks to be completed in school. I am asking for real and plausible opportunities for children to connect and engage with each other meaningfully. 

This could be achieved by setting up more youth clubs or offering young people alternative adult-free ways to hanging out in the online world. 

Community-based initiatives could offer young people real opportunities to invest in their mental fitness instead of attending one-off seminars from mental health professionals like me.

Mental health awareness has had its day in the sun — it is time for action to take the lead.

• Dr Colman Noctor is a child psychotherapist