15 May 2017
Progress in Jersey’s Mental Health Strategy is being marked today by a Mental Health Engagement Day event.
It will be the third time that people who are involved in the Island’s Mental Health Strategy have the opportunity to find out and share all the areas of their work that have been progressing under the Mental Health Strategy following two successful previous Engagement Days in 2015 and 2016.
New services are beginning to come on line now such as the Recovery College, Schools based CAMHS Service, Mental Health Primary Care teams for older people, Community Triage as well as wider changes about estate, nurse recruitment and new legislation. Following two successful previous Engagement Days in 2015 and 2016. The day will be opened by Minister for Health and Social Services, Senator Andrew Green, at the Radisson Blu Hotel.
A key milestone of the day is the publication of the Island’s first Quality Report which is the result of months of work by people from across services.
The Mental Health Strategy which was launched in 2015 set out the importance of services that are timely, person-centred and focused on recovery.
It was recognised both by the people who use and those who provide services that a better understanding of the wider influences on mental health and wellbeing was needed, and that by working more closely, the States of Jersey and charities can provide the best services possible for islanders who need support with mental health.
During 2016, as part of this work, a series of workshops took place with people who use and provide services, focused on identifying how to describe specific issues that were important to people’s mental health. The result of these discussions was a framework of indicators and measures that provides a clear picture of what is important in:
- maintaining good mental health and wellbeing
- delivering timely and effective services to people who are unwell
- supporting people to live a fulfilling life
- ensuring services are staffed appropriately
This first Quality Report describes the work done to start measuring what different services are doing, what those measurements have found, and plans for improvements to services and the way information is collected.
More detailed data is contained in the accompanying dashboards which complement the Quality Report. The dashboard sets out all of the measures included in the framework where the data is already collected.
Continued commitment
Andrew Heaven, who is the lead for the Jersey’s Mental Health Strategy said: “To get where we are now with the Mental Health Strategy is because of the continued dedication from people from all different kinds of services and organisations, since 2015. I am delighted with everyone’s continued commitment to this important project so we can do all we can to give islanders the mental health services they deserve, when they need them.
Minister for Health and Social Services, Senator Andrew Green added: “I am delighted at the amount of progress which has been made with Jersey’s Mental Health Strategy and thank everyone involved for what has been achieved so far.
“Last week’s Mental Health Awareness Week was another opportunity to remind ourselves that one in four people will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lifetime, and how mental health problems can have a wide ranging impact in a number of areas of our lives including housing, education, training, physical health and relationships. It affects people of all ages and cultural backgrounds.
“As public understanding of mental health continues to change, so too will people’s behaviour and expectations. It’s likely that changes in attitude will in turn create different demands on all those providing services across the mental health system, whether that be providing accurate information about local services, building preventative programmes, access to early interventions and support in recovery.
“We need to continue to develop these approaches that are safe and locally owned, so that people living in our community can achieve their full potential.”
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