Remarks by President McAleese at a Forum on Working Together for Positive Mental Health
Áras an Uachtaráin, Dublin, Wednesday, 22nd June, 2011
Dia dhíbh a chairde go léir agus fáilte chuig Áras an Uachtaráin inniu. My warmest thanks to each of you for making the journey, whether long or short, to be with us this morning and for being willing to share your thoughts, experiences, insights and ideas as we gather here to discuss ways of creating the conditions for positive mental health among our young people. I am particularly delighted that the newly appointed Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald is joining us today.
We didn’t choose the topic for today’s forum at random; far from it. Studies and surveys indicate that mental health is the number one issue for young people. Dáil na nÓg and Comhairle na nÓg have already hosted in-depth discussions on this topic. Evidence suggests that adolescence is a time in the life span when people are particularly vulnerable to mental health difficulties and when concrete supports for learning resilience and coping skills may be weak. Those problems can arise in economic good times and in bad for young people are in no way immune from stresses and worries. In their world there are issues to do with awakening sexuality, self-image, exams, shyness, bullying, family dysfunction, prevailing social and cultural attitudes about mental health, about sexual identity - all or any mix of these and more can be a lot to deal with alone and no young person needs to deal with them alone or should be left to deal with them alone. Our young people’s mental well being is our responsibility and we already know that the availability of one good adult in a young person’s life - one adult who believes in him or her, can make a huge benign contribution to their mental health. Our goal here is not to insulate young people from the realities of life, but to equip them well so that they can deal well with life’s realities and its inevitable but often unpredictable ups and down.
A phenomenal amount of good work is being done to encourage a culture of positive mental health and positive attitudes to mental health. Each of the organisations and groups represented here today are engaged in that work and thanks to you the message is getting out that young people need to take their share of responsibility for their mental well-being as much as their physical wellbeing and that there is help available to them, just as there is help and guidance to become skilled at sport, or music or academic subjects there is help to become skilled at healthy personal resilience.
We are challenged to ensure that young people who are troubled or worried have the insight, confidence and information they need to understand that they may need a bit of help, to seek appropriate help and in good time. As the ad says young people dealing with stress, anxiety or depression need to let someone know. We are challenged to ensure that when they do seek help that they will find sensitive, accessible, timely and effective support. We already know that most young people who experience serious emotional difficulties are not reaching out for help. We know that if they did get help, good early intervention could prevent those problems from becoming unwelcome lifelong companions. So how to bridge those gaps in which people suffer unnecessarily in silence and put themselves at increased risk by so doing?
Today we are going to listen to some very inspirational people who will generously share their life’s experiences with us as we try to drill down deeper into the question of the mental health of our young people. I am grateful for their contribution and hope that they will provoke a very lively and eye-opening discussion.
We pay an awful price as a society for lives that are blighted by mental ill-health. It is not how we want life to be, nor is it how life should be. Our young people want for themselves what we want for them, healthy, happy, well–balanced lives, faith in themselves, hope in the future and a determination to make their best mark on that future.
How do we make that happen particularly where circumstances conspire to make life very difficult? You have ideas and experiences that can help us answer that question or help us to keep probing it intelligently until the steps towards a better future begin to form in our minds and then in our practice. Each one of you holds part of the answer like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. The more of those pieces we reveal through dialogue the quicker we get to see the full picture and discern the signposts to better mental health for our young people.
My thanks to Áine Lalor for chairing today’s proceedings, and my warmest thanks to each of you for the part you will play today. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.