Mental health has been declared a fundamental human right by Hackney Council. This is the first step in bringing about essential changes to mental health support services, the council said.
Having proposed the motion to make mental health a universal human right, Councillor Claudia Turbet-Delof, Mental Health Champion for Hackney said: “If mental health is given the parity of esteem with physical health, the system would completely change.”
Across the UK there is an undeniable mental health crisis. Recent figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) show that nearly a quarter of Hackney’s over-16 population suffer from common mental health disorders.
Cllr Turbet-Delof explained: “Mental health has consistently been denied for centuries. It is not an option; it is a human right.”
17 Hackney residents took their own lives in 2021, according to OHID. The council said it would ensure suicide prevention programmes were identified, and work with existing local mental health networks and organisations to further improve outreach, accessibility and the support available.
It will also work in partnership with the local NHS, promote the Wellbeing and Mental Health in Schools (WAMHS) programme – a service available to every child in a Hackney school, and advocate for local organisations and businesses to implement mental health promoting policies and training.
Councillor Christopher Kennedy, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health, said: “My biggest hope from the motion is that it can help to break the mould, and make people feel more able to say, ‘I’m feeling a bit fragile today.”
