The Mental Health Ireland (MHI) annual conference took place in Athlone on the weekend of the 15th May. MHI is a national voluntary organisation promoting positive mental health.

MHI co-exists with a countrywide network of local mental health associations. The MHI and the local associations actively support individuals who have mental illness, along with their carers and families.
The Friday evening of the conference kicked off with John Moloney T.D. and Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children giving a talk. He recognised deep frustration with the lack of progress with ‘A Vision For Change’, the blueprint published in January 2006 by the HSE for a newly-prioritised mental health system.

He went on to say that he wanted to make sure that the money raised from the sale of 12 old psychiatric institutions would go to mental health services.

The keynote address was given by David Begg, general secretary of ICTU. Mr Begg discussed the origins of the current recession and how the country fell into it. He said the tipping point was the collapse of Lehman Brothers on 22nd September last year.

He described the huge stress many people were now finding themselves in, not being able to provide for their families or pay bills, mortgages, or rents. He pointed out how exporters were badly hit because of the devaluation of sterling, the lamentable state of the banks here and the hole in government coffers. He said ICTU were proposing a ‘Social Solidarity Pact’, focussing on keeping people in employment, ensuring families do not have their homes repossessed, and protecting pensions in the private sector.

He went on to say that a thirty-year period of liberal capitalism had ended and we now had to reinvent society through economic efficiency, individual freedom and social responsibility.

Ciara Griffin from The Ceifin Centre for Values-led Change gave an address about voluntarism in Ireland today. Ciara said, given the range of services supplied by volunteers today, if voluntarism stopped the whole country would collapse. She cited three reasons why people don’t volunteer: they don’t have enough time, they were never asked or they don’t feel a close connection to their community.

She said that truth, trust and core values, such as transparency, especially in the media, were a must if the first half of the new century was to see society guided by a return to spirituality.

Michael Finneran, T.D. Minster of State with special responsibility for Housing, Urban Renewal and Developing Areas, gave a speech on homelessness and mental health. He explained his attempts to deal with the growing problem of homelessness through providing social and affordable housing.

He said addressing the housing needs of those with mental illness was a priority. But that the stigma attached to mental illness was a block to progress in this area. He said the government would be working hard to provide more affordable housing in the coming months.

Pictured at the Mental Health Ireland annual conference are, from left: Brian Howard, CEO of MHI; John Moloney TD; David Begg of ICTU and Dr. John Connolly.