Cork Mental Health Foundation

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Cork Mental Health Foundation
Cork Mental Health Housing Association
Empowering People with Mental Health
Difficulties Wednesday 20th February
2008 University College Cork
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• 1962 Cork Mental Welfare was founded
• 1990 Change of name to,
• Cork Mental Health Association
• 2006 the organisation has divided into two
  companies Cork Mental Health Foundation
  Cork Mental Health Housing Association.

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Cork Mental Health Foundation is a Voluntary
Association and a registered Charity whose aims
are to promote positive mental health, to help
people with mental illness and to develop
awareness and understanding of mental illness.
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Cork Mental Health Foundation

• Public Speaking for Post Primary schools.
• Personal Development Project a one day workshop
  for post primary schools.
• Mental Health Matters Pack a resource pack for
  teachers in post primary schools.
• Annual Conference held in Cork to celebrate
  World Mental Health Day 10th October.
• Research Projects Quality of Life Survey
• Reflecting Through Art launched each year in
  March at Cork International Airport.
• Befriending Project Currently being piloted in
  the Togher/Ballyphehane area.
• Fundraising Church gate Collections, Flag Days,
  Golf Classic, Walks, etc.
• Adult Pack a resource for the community and
  employers.

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Purpose of the evening

• There tends to be great variation in the level of
  awareness of mental health issues within third
  level institutions. Our aim is to create a
  non-stigmatising community, understood by all,
  and to build confidence and dispel fear.
• To have some basic awareness of mental health
  issues to enable you to recognise when and where
  to refer and to work towards a non-discriminatory
  community.

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Mental Health and Mental Wellbeing

• What is Health?
• What is Mental Health?
• Factors which influence health/mental health

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Health

• The World Health Organisation (W.H.O.) defines
  health as
• A complete state of Physical, Mental And Social
  well-being. Not just the absence of disease and
  infirmity

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Health is

• Total well-being
• Feeling fit
• Having energy
• Being well nourished
• Being the best you
• can be
• Feeling good, physically, mentally and
  emotionally
• Being in control

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Mental Health

• Mental Health is the emotional and spiritual
  resilience which enables us to enjoy life and
  survive pain, disappointment and sadness
• It is a positive sense of well-being and an
  underlying belief in our own and others dignity
  and worth

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Positive Mental Health

• Positive mental health is about
• feeling in control
• being able to make rational decisions
• being in touch with our feelings
• being able to form positive relationships
• feeling good about ourselves
• knowing how to look after ourselves
• We all have our ups and downs, but if the downs
  start to take over it is a sign that we need to
  take some action.

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Determinants of Health
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Social Exclusion Mental Health

• From mental health social exclusion 2004

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Negative Attitudes can cause

• Unfair treatment,
• Social exclusion isolation of adults Children
  of people with Mental Health Difficulties
• Uninformed or distorted ideas leading to
  discrimination
• Can exacerbate Mental Health Difficulties
  lowering self-esteem, increasing anxiety
  depression

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Stigma discrimination

• Stigma erodes confidence that mental health
  disorders are valid, treatable conditions
• People avoid socialising, employing, or working
  or renting or living near persons with mental
  illness
• Deprives people of dignity and interferes with
  their full participation in society
• Dept of health human services(1999) Surgeon
  Generals report ,USA

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Stigma Discrimination

• Are underlying causes of social exclusion one
  of the greatest barriers to social inclusion
• Can have a greater effect on the lives of
  service-users than their mental health problems,
  as stigma can affect people long after their
  mental health symptoms have been resolved.
• Discrimination can also lead to relapse and can
  intensify existing symptoms
• A vision for change 2006 report by Expert group
  on mental health policy

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Responding to Attitudes, Stigma, Discrimination

• Strengthening Individuals- increase emotional
  resilience through Improving self-esteem, life
  coping skills e.g. communicating, negotiating,
  relationship and parenting skills (life long
  learning)
• Strengthening Communities- Social inclusion
  participation, safe, supportive inclusive
  environments (homes, schools, workplaces church
  sport/recreation facilities), accessible
  responsive health social services.
• Reducing structural barriers to mental health-
  inequality discrimination through integrated
  supportive public policy programmes which
  promote access to education, employment ,housing
  support for people who are vulnerable. Resource
  allocation which is fair equitable

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Mental Health Problems

• Mental health problems range from the worries and
  grief we all experience as part of everyday life,
  to the most bleak, suicidal depression or
  complete loss of touch with everyday reality.
• The commonest challenges to our mental health are
  anxiety and depression. It is estimated that 1 in
  4 of us will experience some kind of mental
  health problem during the course of a year, and
  many of these problems will be to do with feeling
  low and anxious.
• In contrast to these common disorders, there are
  more severe forms of mental health problems such
  as schizophrenia and or bi-polar disorder which
  affect far fewer people (around 4 out of 1000
  people during the course of a year). These
  conditions are characterised by varying degrees
  of loss of touch with the reality experienced by
  most other people, and are often referred to as
  psychotic illnesses.

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Causes of Mental Health Problems There is much
disagreement about the causes of mental health
problems. Issues such as difficult family
background, experience of abuse in childhood,
suppression of feelings, stressful life events,
biochemistry and genetic predisposition have been
implicated. Societal causes, for example, poverty
and discrimination, should also be considered.
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Classification of Mental Health
Problems Psychiatrists have classified mental
health problems into different categories or
diagnoses, such as depression, schizophrenia or
manic depression, and usually treat or control
the symptoms of mental illness with medication,
although other treatments such as psychotherapy
and alternative therapies are available too.
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• Students' mental health
• There is no doubt that being a student can be
  stressful. Whilst there are many positive aspects
  of student life, there are also many pressures.
  Students need to look after their mental health
  so that they are fit to face the challenges
  presented.
• Surveys of student populations often report much
  higher levels of the symptoms of anxiety than the
  norm for their age group. Levels of symptoms for
  depression can also be higher amongst students.
  One study found that students were 1.64 times
  more likely to experience symptoms of mental ill
  health than the general population (Harrison et
  al 1999). Another found that reported levels of
  moderate to severe anxiety among second year
  students were nearly twice that of the general
  population (Webb et al 1996).

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Factors in a mental health diagnosis for students

• There are a lot of factors in a mental health
  diagnosis. Contributing factors may be
  biological, neurological, life events such as
  grieving, drug taking, accidents, divorce, moving
  house. You have to look at the person's social
  situation."
• In addition to stress related factors, students
  will be affected by the same range of mental
  health problems as faced by the general
  population. In some cases they will experience
  such severe conditions that they may find it
  difficult to continue with their work and need
  time out for treatment.

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Reasons Why Students might show levels of
stress-related symptoms

• The reasons are many, for example
• the transition away from home, family or work
• the process of developing an adult identity
• uncertainty about the future
• relationship problems
• the pressure of work and assessments
• money problems
• The causes or triggers will differ from person to
  person, they will affect different students in
  different ways, and the solutions for each
  individual will also vary. Mature students and
  students from overseas will have additional and
  sometimes different pressures affecting their
  well-being.

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How can you tell if the student has a mental
health problem?

• Students may come to university or college with
  an existing mental health problem which they may
  or may not have revealed to anyone. This is quite
  understandable. Many people are reluctant to
  mention their mental health problems on an
  application form, and few students make any such
  declaration. Staff may encounter any of the
  following situations
• Some students will be up-front about their mental
  health situation and make staff aware of their
  needs from the outset, for example by contacting
  a Disability Support Services.
• Some students may have their problems well under
  control and feel that there is no need to mention
  them unless they are likely to have an impact on
  their academic performance.
• A significant number of students will encounter
  their first mental health problem during their
  studies.
• Other students will have a mental health problem
  which is impacting negatively on their studies or
  other aspects of their life but do not declare it
  or access support.

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Don't Ignore The Signs

• You may often be the first to recognise that a
  student may be having significant problems . The
  following are a few signs to look for that may
  indicate that they may have a mental health
  problem
• marked drop in college performance or increase in
  absenteeism
• excessive use of alcohol and/or drugs
• marked changes in sleeping and/or eating habits
• many physical complaints (headaches, stomach
  aches)
• consistent aggressive or non-aggressive
  violations of rights of others opposition to
  authority, skipping college thefts, vandalism,
  etc.
• withdrawal from friends, family, and regular
  activities

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Dont ignore the signs continued

• depression shown by continued, prolonged negative
  mood and attitude, often accompanied by poor
  appetite, difficulty sleeping or thoughts of
  death
• frequent outbursts of anger and rage
• low energy level, poor concentration, complaints
  of boredom
• loss of enjoyment in what used to be favourite
  activities
• unusual neglect of personal appearance
• intense fear of becoming obese with no
  relationship to actual body weight
• uncharacteristic delinquent, thrill seeking or
  promiscuous behaviour
• marked personality change
• comments about feeling rotten inside, wanting to
  end things, and soon no longer being a problem
  for others

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Is it possible to recover from Mental
Illness? Mental illnesses can occur in episodes,
with the person feeling well for some of the time
and in crisis for the rest, with the severity of
the crisis varying from time to time. Such crises
are often referred to as the acute periods of a
person's mental health problem. It is possible
to recover completely from mental health problems
and many people do.
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Statutory Services

• G.P
• Accident Emergency
• Psychological Services
• Child Adolescent Services
• Adult Psychiatric Services
• Addiction Services

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Community Links

• Cork Mental Health Foundation Cork Mental
  Health Housing Association 021- 4511100
• Grow
• Aware
• Schizophrenia Ireland
• Focus Ireland
• National Learning Network Focus Programme
• Basement Club

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Who to Contact

• Disability Support Service U.C.C.
• Counseling Department U.C.C.
• Local Mental Health Service if client is already
  attending
• AE Department
• HSE Customer Care Line
• 1850 742 000
• Samaritans 1850 60 90 90
• HSE South Suicide Help Line
• 1800 742 745

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Developments

• Mental Health Act 2001 (enacted November 2006)
• Psychiatric Services for Homeless People ACCES
  Team
• New Bodies Established under 2001 Act
• Mental Health Commission
• - Mental Health Tribunals
• - Inspectorate of Mental Health Services
• Department of Health Children - Expert Review
  Group - 10 year plan of services
• Vision for Change which states that Each
  citizen should have access to local, specialised
  and comprehensive mental health service provision
  that is of the highest standard.

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What can you do?

• It is not your responsibility to 'fix' a
  student's mental health problem and you should
  not be afraid to communicate your limitations to
  the student both in terms of the level of support
  you can provide and the amount of time you have
  available.
• Dont underestimate your level of support - What
  can seem like minimal support to a staff member
  may be very beneficial to an individual student.
• Consider what allowances you can make for
  students with mental health difficulties within
  your role. For example, as a lecturer is it
  possible to negotiate study times, extend
  deadlines, change assessment arrangements and
  teaching styles? Help the student find other
  sources of support
• Raise your own awareness of support services
  within your institution and locally and be
  prepared to refer students to health or
  counselling services for help with their
  emotional or mental health problems. Remember
  that sources of support can include self-help
  materials and web sites as well as specific
  individuals and services.
• If you are still unsure about what to do, you can
  also seek advice from your institution's
  counselling service or disability advisers.