A reflection, one month on from Participation and the Practice of Rights (PPR), New Script World Mental Health Day in Belfast.
On October 10th some members of Mad in Ireland attended an event to mark From Ticking Boxes to Transformation – A New Script for Mental Health” Centre for Mental Health.
PPR have a mental health campaign called New Script for Mental Health which seeks “to build a progressive and inclusive social movement, bringing together everyone in our society who believes we need a better approach to mental health. The purpose of this movement is to collectively develop a New Script for Mental Health, grounded in human rights and trauma-informed principles”.
The event on the 10th of October took place in the beautiful MAC Arts Centre, Exchange Street West, Belfast. The room was full of people longing for an overdue transformation in how we deal with mental health.
We heard from people’s lived and living experience of what harms and heals with a backdrop of the social cause of distress and the room was full of love and emotion. The morning was carefully crafted with a moving poem Stars will Shine from poet and New Script activist, Sean Fitzsimons, a song about pills and how they are liberally prescribed and the culture of ticking boxes song from a local choir.
A keynote was delivered by Professor Dainius Pūras, psychiatrist and former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health who was honored to be invited back to Belfast. Mr. Pūras gave an overview of a rights based approach to mental health and the many documents by the WHO, UN and Council of Europe and examples of good practice of radically reforming services and community initiatives.
PPR- New Script launched Give 5: Steps to a Wellbeing Rights Framework. People with lived experience, along with mental health workers, have created this rights-based framework. It outlines 5 steps which government bodies and organisations can act on to address the ‘mental health’ crisis. Take 5 Steps to Wellbeing is a public health campaign focusing on what individuals can do to improve their mental health. PPR said “we can’t have one without the other”.
The five, inter-connected elements of the Give 5 framework are as follows:
- Connect the symptoms of ‘mental ill-health’ to their root causes.
- Be active in challenging the overprescribing of antidepressants and in providing a wider range of community-based options for healing.
- Take notice of and act on the knowledge and wisdom of people with first-hand experience.
- Learn from failures in previous policy and practice and support people’s right to openness, honesty and accountability.
- Giving people the dignity, compassion and hope to which they are entitled.
Mad in Ireland Ireland fully endorse the Give Five campaign. In the spirit of a human rights approach, it is a useful lens for rights holders and duty bearers alike. We stand in solidarity with PPR and look forward to what is next for them.
Some videos and photos of the day.
