Calls for action as Holyrood declares mental health crisis in Scotland
Charities warn Covid-19 has increased feelings of isolation, stress and pressure
Last updated 18th Feb 2021
Campaigners are demanding urgent action to tackle the 'tsunami' of mental health problems made even worse by the pandemic.
It's after opposition MSPs united to defeat the Scottish Government in a vote declaring a 'mental health crisis' in Scotland.
The debate at the Scottish Parliament came as the Health Committee warned that after the coronavirus pandemic "a mental health tsunami is coming, if indeed the first wave has not already reached us''.
The Liberal Democrats put forward the motion, which "recognises that there is a mental health crisis in Scotland'', and was passed by 65 to 58.
Steven Hogg from Tweedbank has being living with depression and anxiety since he was 15.
Now aged 46 he's been diagnosed as Bipolar and told Forth 1 he'd "given up and lost all hope" after losing his job in the autumn of 2020.
"I had been on the slide for a while and given up on life and any sort of hope for a decent future.
"It's a daily challenge to keep myself in a place where I'm not letting things affect me mentally or emotionally so that things don't get overwhelming.
"Words aren't enough. People need to see action, and see it now. If they say that things are in a crisis then they need to back that up and get their fingers out."
During the debate mental health minister Clare Haughey told MSPs that mental health funding in 2021-22 would be more than £1.2 billion.
She also highlighted a £120 million mental health recovery and renewal fund, announced by the Scottish Government on Tuesday, hailing it as the "single largest investment in mental health in the history of devolution''.
However Ms Haughey accepted the pandemic had been a "time of national trauma'', as she said mental health would continue to be an "absolute priority'' for ministers.
Julie Cameron from the Mental Health Foundation is telling Forth 1 more needs to be done to tackle the root causes to prevent suffering:
"Covid has increased feelings of isolation or stress and pressure, but it's certaintly not the start of problems around mental health. This is something we've been dealing with for a long time
"There's a political will to do things differently, to really see this for what it is which is something which has been brewing in society for a long time, increasing numbers of people feeling distressed, feeling isolated and feeling lonely.
Carolyn Lochhead from SAMH says support services are under huge pressure:
"1 in 5 children being referred to specialist mental health services are being turned away. A quarter of people who are referred for psychological therapies wait at least four months to be seen. And we have really tragically seen a rise in death by suicide in the last year.
"We want the Government to take action to ensure that children and young people can get help at the first time of asking without the threat of reject, and increase in psychological support so people can get the support they need at the right time, and access to suicide support training so our communities can come together to prevent suicide."