Mental health services to be easier to find

Mental health services to be easier to find

Assistant Health Minister Steve Pallett said that Jersey’s medical director for mental health, Dr Miguel Garcia, was working to make it easier for Islanders to know where to access mental health services.

‘I would not have had any idea where to go or where to start [looking for services],’ the Senator said.

‘He [Dr Garcia] is producing a clear map of where people can go for different services. In the past it has not been clear.’

Senator Pallett said the listening lounge – a planned drop-in centre for mental health support – is going to be one service the government is developing to address early stage mental health issues.

Earlier this week he said it could open by the end of the year and it would help with ‘mental health’ issues before they became serious.

He revealed a site had been identified for the lounge, however he would not divulge the information as the process was ongoing.

He also stated that there could be a number of ‘lounges’ in different locations in the Island.

Despite it being a two-year pilot programme the Health Department has budgeted for four years for the service, so the funding is available should the scheme carry on.

On the topic of waiting times for services, Health director general Caroline Landon admitted that waiting times for services across the board in mental health were too long in Jersey.

She said that a review was taking place on waiting times to identify where the greatest needs were in different services.

She said: ‘We recognise we have this in mental health.

‘Waiting times are too long and we are making sure we do things properly.’

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