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Cutting mental health projects
Opinion: If you care about mental health, please read this.
Jigsaw Roscommon is a project supported and created by Headstrong, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health, in Roscommon. They offer support services for young people aged 12-22 and have worked to get rid of the stigma attached to mental ill health, which is huge in rural towns. Roscommon is the fifth largest county in Ireland and the population is very spread out, meaning there’s a real lack of public transport. Young people don’t have access to the support they need because of this. At Jigsaw, trained facilitators help young people who don’t need full-on medical help. So why, I ask, has our budget been completely axed?
Why would anybody cut the youth mental health sector in a recession, when mental health problems are at an all time high?
After all, young people are prone to more financial and social problems in an economic downturn. They have no money, they don’t go out as much with their friends (meaning they feel isolated), or else they turn to drink or drugs to ignore their problems. They might be having problems at home, at school or at work. Of course, college is a huge problem for many people who have gotten the points, but can’t afford to actually go for the foreseeable future.
So why cut youth mental health, when it means you are cutting up people’s dreams for the future? Lack of money means lack of services. A lack of services means less people get help. I hope I don’t have to go into what happens when people don’t get the help they need. People die, that what happens when there’s no one to turn to in a crisis.
I have been a member of Jigsaw Roscommon since it began, and I don’t know what I’m going to do now. Jigsaw helped me make friends outside school for a start, as I’m kinda socially awkward. I’d been suffering from depression for the last few years and they really helped me through it just by being there. We had become like a family. What do you do when you can’t see your family anymore?
I’m writing this article to raise awareness of what’s actually happening out there. If you care about mental health, please write letters to the government, rant about it on Twitter and Facebook, and join an Occupy Protest. Let your voice be heard.
By: jigsawgrl
