Top priorities for mental health policy w/ Dr Ian Soosay: 23 January, 2024

In the tumult of last year's election campaign it seemed that there were a myriad of issues that got limited to no coverage time.

Amongst the issues that took a backseat was mental health care.

Statistics from 2021 showed an increase in people reporting poor mental wellbeing and as a country we ranked 38th in the world in child mental wellbeing in 2020.

An article titled “Some mental health advice for Minister Doocey“ was recently published by Newsroom. The article highlighted three key areas of focus for policy regarding mental health, with those priorities being;

Universal Health Coverage, Parity of Esteem for mental health services and reaching unreached populations.

Nicholas spoke to the article's author Dr Ian Soosay about his advice for the new Government’s mental health policy.