Some government policies promote poverty and social exclusion - Richmond Foundation CEO

10 to 20 per cent of young people and children suffer from mental health illness at some point in their life, Children’s Commissioner Helen d’Amato said this morning.

Doris Gauci, the CEO of the Richmond Foundation, said there were a number of government policies that actually promoted poverty and social exclusion for people who suffered from mental health.

Both Mrs d’Amato and Ms Gauci were addressing a conference held to raise awareness on mental health and children as part of the activities held to celebrate the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.

Mrs d-Amato said that mental illness did not distinguish between young and old.

The government needed to be more proactive when it came to curing mental health and prevention.

Unfortunately, children who suffered from mental health problems were, sometimes, not diagnosed so they were not given the necessary support or cure.

The education sector, she said, had a very important role in identifying these children. She called for more services within the sector to actually tackle the problem.

Mrs d’Amato called for more help in the community rather than within an institution.

“We should introduce an auditing culture to review the services that are available. If any gaps are found these should be filled,” she said.

Ms Gauci said it was estimated that around 25 per cent of the Maltese suffered from mental illness at some point in their life. She spoke about the huge stigma around, which, she said, created a vicious circle, keeping people from seeking help leading to problems getting worse.

Stigma had never been tackled in a structured way through a national campaign as had been done in other countries, Ms Gauci said.

While people who worked in mental health and voluntary groups did their utmost to eradicate the stigma, it was not enough because a comprehensive campaign was needed and the government had the duty to draw up one and launch it.

There were a number of government policies that actually promoted poverty and social exclusion for people who suffered from mental health, she said.

Ms Gauci said that in the Civil and Criminal Code there were still derogatory terms used to refer to people who suffered from mental health. These reinforced the stigma. When a person was interdicted they lost all their rights, including their right to appeal the interdiction.

The CEO also criticised the delay in the enaction of a mental health act. She said that sometimes, especially when it came to separation cases, mental health problems were used as a weapon.

These made people afraid of seeking help.

On education, she said it was very positive that Junior Lyceum examinations would no longer be held.

These had created great stress for students and parents. Schools, she said, should also provide personal skills to make students more resilient. Teachers, on the other hand, needed to be trained in how to recognise symptoms of mental health problems in children.