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‘Mental health provision shouldn’t be a lottery’
A brave councillor chose his maiden speech at City Hall to reveal his battle with chronic anxiety and bipolar disorder.
Calling for better mental health provision, more Government funding and early intervention, Paul Goggin, a Labour councillor for Hartcliffe and Withywood, opened up about his own struggles, arguing that navigating the services available should not be a lottery.
“One in four adults, or 16 million people will suffer a mental illness at some point each year,” said Goggin, speaking to support a motion on mental health put before the full council on Tuesday, July 17.
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“Out of these, 400,000 are children and it is estimated that another 1.2 million children suffer invisibly.
“The lack of funding means that children are unlikely to receive help unless they seriously self-harm or attempt suicide. 6,000 people a year do not get the help they need and go on to end their lives. What a waste. People, often from the most deprived backgrounds, thrown on the scrapheap or worse.
Paul Goggin speaking out at a Bristol City Council meeting
“I’ve seen how mental health provision has been cut and cut again, mental health professionals stripped from GP surgeries. I have seen it first hand in my own journey as a service user.
“I live with bipolar disorder and chronic anxiety – without help I could’ve been the six thousand and first person. I was lucky, but this should not be a lottery.”
Celia Phipps, a Labour councillor for Bedminster, put forward the motion that pledges full commitment to Thrive Bristol, a ten-year mental health and well being programme for all ages that focuses on prevention and early intervention.
It also called for more awareness and training within the council as a whole and to lobby the Government on the need for proper funding for NHS services.
“Let’s be clear, austerity has gone far enough,” said Phipps. “We know that mental health services in this city need more funds to provide the timely services those in need deserve, including those working in the drug and alcohol sector.
“We need a citywide responsibility to improve well being and mental health and seek to reduce the stigma surrounding poor mental health for ages and communities.”
Richard Eddy said the Conservative’s supported the proposals, but not the Labour motion
The motion was backed by all groups, except the Conservatives, who claimed it was politically motivated.
Speaking at the meeting, Richard Eddy, a Tory councillor for Bishopsworth, said the motion proposed some “excellent practical measures to tackle mental health within the council”.
He claimed that the Conservative group full supports the proposals, before going on to explain why it did not back the motion, saying: “Sadly his motion is muddled, inaccurate in large parts and utterly politically partisan.
“The foundation of the NHS 70 years ago is not celebrated as a great national achievement, but as a Labour victory. This is both a travesty and a disgrace.”
Fi Hance was also critical of the wording on the Labour motion, but backed the call for better mental health provision
Fi Hance, a Green councillor for Redland, said the Government’s rhetoric on mental health was “buttering no parsnips” and that more help was needed.
“Many people are lurching into crisis, getting emergency treatment and are then packed off again before the next inevitable crisis,” she said.
But she backed the Tories in condemning the motion as party political.
“I’m not convinced that being reminded that the Labour Party set up the NHS does much to change the mental health landscape in this city,” she said. “Although it does serve as a reminder that the Labour group thinks they, and they alone, occupy the moral high ground.”
Despite their concerns, the motion was passed 49 votes for, 13 against and two abstentions.
Main illustration by Parys Gardener.
Jack Pitts is a local democracy reporter for Bristol.
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