Family input key to mental health strategies

The understanding, coping mechanisms and resilience that families who care for those with mental illness have developed must become a key part of the development of the mental health services in Ireland into the future, a conference has heard.

Assistant national director for mental health with the Health Service Executive (HSE), Martin Rogan, said: "When you bring together the coping skills and resilience that families have developed with the knowledge and training of the mental health professionals and the innovative coping mechanisms that the service users themselves develop, you have a very potent mixture and this is where I see our services going into the future."

Mr Rogan was speaking at the national conference on Caring for Carers - A Mental Health Perspective which was held by the HSE West in Sligo last Thursday.

He pointed out that in the past, if a person developed a mental illness, they were removed into an institutional setting but that model had now been replaced by a community-based model.

"The reality is that an individual with a severe and disabling mental illness will spend a lot of time with their family at home and may be very dependent on their family," he said.

"In the past, recognition was not given to the wisdom and techniques that families had developed in caring for family members with mental illness."

Mr Rogan explained that under the Government's Vision for Change, a new national service user executive had been set up to ensure that service users and their families would be involved in the development and management of mental health services.

He agreed that there was a number of delicate balances involved, including the patients' right to confidentiality in availing of any health service.

"There is no automatic permission for a medical professional to share information with the family about changes in medication or treatment for example.

"This can be very frustrating for the family and the professional as often the service user will ask the professional not to mention something which he or she feels is important for the family to know. This is one of the areas we are trying to develop a protocol for," he said.

Dr Fidelma Flynn, clinical director of Sligo mental health services and conference organiser, highlighted the challenge of providing equity between urban and rural services in the years ahead, of providing out-of-hours services, outreach, primary care intervention teams and the development of specific training for staff in the area of psychosis.

On a national level, she highlighted the need to provide work opportunities to people with mental illness in recovery, the need to reduce the stigma around mental illness and to develop patient advocacy services.