With a track record of success in the UK, the HSE looks to mental health cafés as a potential answer to the growing mental health epidemic.
By Jake Hurley
A new mental health cafe is set to open in Galway which promises to provide out-of-hours support for locals in need.
The Galway Community Cafe is planned to serve as a space in which customers can meet with a team of trained staff who have experience in the area of mental health as an alternative to the traditional A&E environment.
The project will be run in partnership with the Galway Local Forum, the HSE and the Office of Mental Health Engagement and Recovery.
Galway City East Councilor Owen Hanley has applauded the announcement as a much-needed development in the city’s mental health infrastructure.
“We know this past year has been incredibly difficult, but at the same time it has brought the conversation about how we support and treat mental health in this country to the fore.
“A service like this will offer a relaxed opportunity for anyone to come at night, chat with trained staff members, or simply relax and gather their thoughts in a non-judgmental space.”
“In Galway we’ve seen an increase in the referrals based on anxiety related to the pandemic. I’m hopefully this will be the foundation for care that takes mental health seriously, which benefits the general public.”
The planned facility will be the first of several so called ‘crisis cafes’ outlined in Sharing the Vision – a Mental Health Policy for Everyone, launched by former Minister for State Jim Daly along with former Health Minister Simon Harris earlier this year.
The plan states that: “Out-of-hours crisis cafés are proposed as a new referral option, to support individuals to deal with an immediate crisis and to plan safely, drawing on their strengths, resilience and coping mechanisms to manage their mental health and well-being.”
“Attendees would be able to access talk therapies, coping strategies and one-to-one peer support, provided by paid core staff assisted by a team of appropriately trained volunteers, working on a rota basis.
“The cafés may reduce demands on emergency departments by providing an environment more suited to the needs of some individuals who present.”
Sharing the Vision replaces the Vision for Change plan which drew criticism for its failure to implement many of its recommendations. Mr. Daly said the new plan will focus on “imaginative and creative solutions” to dealing with the mental health crisis in a post-pandemic context.
The announcement comes as welcome news as experts fear the effects of Covid lockdowns could have negative implications for the mental health of the public – the College of Psychiatrists recently released a survey showing that Covid restrictions have led to a surge in the number of individuals seeking mental health intervention.
A study released by the UK’s NHR also suggested that following a positive Covid-19 diagnosis, nearly one in five people are subsequently diagnosed with a mental illness such as anxiety or depression within the next three months.
“This finding was unexpected and needs investigation. In the meantime, having a psychiatric disorder should be added to the list of risk factors for Covid-19,” said NIHR academic Dr Max Taquet, speaking with the Irish Times.
Crisis cafes have previously been opened throughout the UK by the NHS in partnership with private charities such as Mind, as Social Democrats Councilor Owen Hanley notes: “They’ve been rolled out in the UK and have had a great impact in making access to mental health care more accesible to the general public”.
One particularly successful UK example is Aldershot’s Safe Haven cafe – independent research done by consultancy firm Mental Health Strategies showed that in the six months following its launch the number of those seeking psychiatric admission in the local area fell by 23%. Furthermore, the report showed 63 reports of individuals using the service as an alternative to A&E which ultimately saved £20,223 for the NHS.
Last year also saw the publication of a feasibility study into a crisis café in Kilkenny by LifelinkK, Kilkenny LEADER Partnership and HSE Mental Health Engagement. A key element of the potential project described in the study was the potential for partnership with the planned Galway community cafe.
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