We should all challenge stigma

24/06/2009

Everyone in society has a responsibility to challenge stigma around suicide and mental health issues.

That was one of the principal messages of key note speaker Simon Armson at a conference in Gloucester hosted jointly by the 2gether NHS Foundation Trust and the self-help voluntary organisation, Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS).

Mr Armson, former Chief Executive of Samaritans and Chairman of the Mental Health Act Commission, said: “If we stigmatise suicide and mental health issues then we are failing as a society. We all have a responsibility to address that stigma.”

More than 100 delegates from statutory and voluntary agencies attended the one-day conference, entitled Who Cares? The Mental Health Minefield, at the Guildhall.

Key topics discussed included striking the right balance between the duty of care for an individual and respecting that person’s confidentiality and the devastating impact that suicide has on relatives, friends and carers.

There are nearly 6,000 suicides in the UK each year – an average of one every 90 minutes – and three-quarters of those are men.

Mr Armson added: “Men are a very difficult group to reach because even now the stiff upper lip attitude does prevail. Men need encouragement to open up to receive the care and support available to them when they need it.”

2gether Chief Executive Shaun Clee also emphasised the importance of promoting social inclusion and the need to treat mental illness as an illness like any other.

“Mental health is everybody’s business – not just the Trust’s, the GPs’ or the carers’,” he said. “We can have excellent clinical services but if there isn’t wider social inclusion then people will still experience stigma.

“We need to continue to raise awareness through anti-stigma campaigns because every time there is a negative image or story it simply makes it harder for people to access the services they need.”