Swinson: One day left to stop Boris Johnson and stop Brexit Welsh Lib Dems: Put a penny on income tax to transform mental healthcare Swinson: One day left to stop Boris Johnson and stop Brexit Liberal Democrat Leader Jo Swinson will today (Wednesday 11th December) deliver her final speech of the election campaign in Esher […]
mental health
Norman Lamb: My job was to give people a voice
The thing I was most scared about during the 2015 election was not having Norman Lamb as a Minister any more. He had done so much for mental health and I was worried that some Tory (because I feared they would win) would just undo all his work. A House of Commons without Norman in […]
Vince, Luciana and Norman write about mental health
Yesterday was World Mental Health Day. Three of our MPs wrote articles on different aspects of mental health. Vince Cable wrote for Times Red Box (£) about his mother’s post natal depression and the impact on their family. When I was aged ten, shortly after my brother was born, my mother had a breakdown. She […]
World mental health day is tomorrow
The World Health Organisation recognises World Mental Health Day on 10 October every year. This year’s theme set by the World Federation for Mental Health is suicide prevention. The Mental Health Foundation are encouraging people to share the infographic above. There is much relevant information on their website, including the list below of ways to […]
7 October 2019 – the overnight press release
Cable: Psychiatric vacancies demand annual workforce plan Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary Vince Cable has called for the Secretary of State for Health to produce an annual workforce plan following a report by the Royal College of Psychiatrists which reveals one in ten consultant psychiatric roles are unfilled. Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary Vince Cable […]
I now know I have PTSD and it is Liberating
I am not quite sure when I first encountered the ‘Black Dog’ but he has pretty much been on the premises for the last ten years. The crash as I like to call it came on 9th October 2009 when the pressures of a full-time job and caring finally took their toll. I remember waking […]
Being a PPC with a Snap GE looming….
Needless to say, I have been busy lately! As have been PPCs and candidate selection teams up and down the country with the threat of looming General Election. Exciting times! This uncertainty plays havoc with our mental health. We all have mental health, as we all have physical health. Not knowing whether one’s life is […]
Making a difference – the first Mental Health First Aid Impact Report
I blogged several years ago about my experience of training as a Mental Health First Aider. Since then, I’ve lobbied and worked to bring equal parity of esteem to mental and physical first aid. So I was keen to read the first Impact Report from Mental Health First Aid England: does MHFA really work? The […]
It’s time we talked about legalising drugs
There is currently much noise around the (unsurprising) news that a senior politician, who was once a journalist, spending much time in a large city in the UK, has taken drugs during his life – we’re taking illicit drugs here, cocaine, in Mr Gove’s case. Despite some moral outrage, there has been a surprising shift […]
LibLink: Christine Jardine We all deserve the same quality of mental health care as my late husband
Christine Jardine’s column is a bit different this week. She writes about how her late husband, Calum, was affected by Bipolar Disorder. Calum Macdonald was a brilliant journalist, working for the Herald in Glasgow for many years. Although they were separated at the time of his death from a heart attack during the 2017 election […]