The most famous statistic about mental health is that 1 in 4 people will suffer a mental health difficulty in their lifetime. Here’s another stat for you; This week, 10 people in Ireland will die by suicide. The Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has announced to plans to cut the mental health budget announced in October by 1/3 or €12 million in order to allocate it to other areas of the health service. It is yet another blow to the progress that we as a country are making in tackling our mental health crisis. It shows the government’s deep lack of understanding of how bad this problem is. The health service has many problems regarding waiting lists, beds and people on trolleys. However, cutting the mental health budget is a drastic and short-sighted move that will have significant and terrible effects on those who need the services the most. If it wasn’t for mental health charities like Pieta House, the Samaritans, MyMind and countless others, this crisis would be even worse. We are making excellent progress in talking about mental health but we are lagging behind when it comes to doing anything about it. Conditions like depression and anxiety are being talked about by the media but is the government actually listening? As someone who suffers from a mental health problem, I can say wholeheartedly that they’re not. €35 million was originally allocated to the mental health budget and that has now been cut by a third. Let’s put that in perspective; cutting the budget by a third means cutting counselling services by a third thus increasing waiting times. It puts services out of reach for those who need them most. Not everyone can afford to go private and see a therapist or psychologist that can cost anywhere between €50-€100 per session. GPs, colleges and counselling services are struggling to meet the demand for their services now more than ever.  By slashing the mental health budget, the government is condemning more people to suffer alone and in silence, unable to access the services they so desperately need. The health service is in a bad way, that I can understand. What I cannot understand is taking money away from some of the most vulnerable people in order to fix the unfixable. We are condemning more people to die by suicide by doing this. As I said, we are making excellent progress in talking about mental health, but now, what are we going to do about it?

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