Why it’s important
Mental health is everyone’s business.
Our mental health is always important throughout our entire lives, from when we are born until the end of our lives. It is our responsibility to create communities where people can promote wellness and receive the support they need to thrive. To make a positive change, we need to shift the culture to create environments that enable good mental health. Early intervention and involving families are crucial in providing the right support at the right time.
By doing this, we can make sure that everyone has an opportunity to maintain good mental health. Engaging with businesses and providing them with support is essential for building resilient communities. When businesses thrive, they create opportunities for people and communities to reach their full potential. When businesses succeed, they contribute to the economic growth of the community, which in turn leads to an improved quality of life for people.
There are many factors that affect our mental health, and it is important to work together to make positive changes. We need to focus on helping people feel good and cope with mental health challenges, encouraging physical activity, making sure there are helpful services in our communities, supporting parents and families, making sure children get the help they need through early years settings, pre-schools, and schools, eating healthy food to feel good and stay well, and looking after both our bodies and minds. By focusing on these areas, we can create a better environment for everyone’s wellbeing.
In England, one in four people will experience a mental health problem each year, and one in six will experience a common mental health problem, like anxiety or depression, in any given week. If no action is taken, we could see 17% of the population experiencing depression by 2028. The financial cost of mental ill health in the UK is around £118 billion, which is 5% of GDP. For Dorset, this is about £1.4 billion.
Sometimes people need extra help, especially children and young people. Unfortunately, waiting times for this help are longer than they should be. Only a small number of people are offered an appointment within four weeks, which is much lower than the national target. We also see a lot of young people going to the hospital because they have harmed themselves, and more and more children with autism are experiencing mental health difficulties.
In Dorset, if someone is going through a tough time with their mental health, they might not be sure where to go for help. There are different places they can turn to such as their GP surgery, local emergency department, local community health team and community groups. It is important to know that there are options available, but it can be confusing to know which is the right choice.
What we’ve been doing
We want to make sure our children, young people, and their families get help for their mental health as soon as possible. We have a plan called the Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Strategy for Children and Young People to help us to do this. We have used a model called ‘THRIVE’ to change how we work so all children have the best chance to be happy and well.
We have also improved specialist help for parents who may have mental health difficulties during pregnancy or after having a baby. We know dads and partners need help too, so we have something called DadPad to give them support.
Community support is important to help you stay well. We now have more people called ‘social prescribers’ who help through GP practices. They can listen and support you to identify what is important to you, make changes in your life and connect you with things happening in your local area.
We have a special group made up of different organisations working together to prevent suicides. We have a plan to make sure we take action and help people when they need it most. We have been working hard to improve the services for those in crisis and need more support with their mental health and emotions. For university students in Bournemouth, we have created a special place called the ‘University Retreat’. It is a safe place where students can go when they need help and support. It is important that they know they are not alone and that there are people who care about their wellbeing.
Sometimes it can be difficult to get all the different services running together smoothly. We have been working hard to make this better, especially in primary care. We want to make sure everyone gets the help they need. For example, we have been focusing on making sure people with a serious mental illness go for a yearly health check. This helps people stay healthy and get the right support. We also have a programme called LiveWell Dorset. It helps people make positive changes in their lives to become healthier both physically and mentally.
We have a group called the Health Inequalities Group (HIG) focusing on making sure everyone has a fair chance at being healthy. The HIG brings together people from a wide range of organisations to reduce health inequalities for people of all ages. The HIG works with the Community Conversations programme to understand what is important for people from different communities and to find ways to tackle the barriers to being healthy.
Looking after our staff who deliver services is important too. We have a number of staff wellbeing offers including an enhanced service through Here for Each Other and projects to help our staff to stay active.
