“We need to confront and challenge the stigma around mental health.”
That is the view of one of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council’s new Mental Health Champions, Raymond Farrell.

A cognitive behavioural therapist, the DUP Erne North Councillor is keen that his new role will do more than just “tick a box”. 
“I want this to mean something to people,” he said.

He is joined by two other Mental Health Champions: SDLP Enniskillen Councillor Patricia Rogers, who works for First Housing Aid and Support Services in Enniskillen, and Sinn Fein Mid Tyrone Councillor Anne Marie Fitzgerald.

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council (FODC) marked World Mental Health Day last Tuesday by officially launching its Mental Health Champions and signing up to the Mental Health Charter.

The Fermanagh and Omagh Council area is the third highest in Northern Ireland, after Belfast and the Derry and Strabane, in terms of the number of people (per 1,000 patients) on the Mental Health Register.
Constituents often contact Councillor Farrell confidentially about mental health issues.

“In rural areas, people are more reticent to talk about mental health and well-being, particularly young males and there’s a higher suicide rate among young males,” he said. “As a society, if we have a physical difficulty we are comfortable taking to our boss at work about it, but that is not the case if we have a mental difficulty,” Councillor Farrell added.
His “vision” is that local businesses and schools would appoint a well-being officer who has appropriate training.

“It doesn’t have to involve a lot of finance because there are training bodies which would support those well-being officers,” he contended.
“Depression wants us to overestimate our problems and under estimate ourselves as a person – we need to attack that negative parrot on our shoulder,” said Councillor Farrell.

Patricia Rogers stated: “In my day job I work with those at risk of becoming homeless and many of them are vulnerable clients who suffer from mental health issues. They often have suicide ideation or drug and alcohol addiction and poor mental health is the reason for the situation they find themselves in.”

She added: “All of us would experience problems with our mental health from time to time. This is nothing to be ashamed of. However still within society there is a stigma attached.” She welcomed the Council taking “a proactive role in promoting wellbeing within the workplace and progressing to reaching out to the wider community” and said: “There is a genuine desire to reach out to the most vulnerable, to challenge negative attitudes and perceptions and promote steps to well-being.”