We鈥檙e disappointed that the Northern Ireland (NI) Executive has chosen not to include any specific commitments to mental health services in its nine key spending priorities from its new Programme for Government (PfG).

The PfG was approved this week by all four NI Executive parties and failed to include any concrete plans or direct commitments to improving mental health services. We鈥檙e very concerned that the plan only included cursory mentions of mental health and that counselling and therapy were not mentioned at all.

Missed opportunities

We鈥檙e also disappointed that it missed an opportunity to reinstate the much needed funding for primary school counselling in Northern Ireland, following the ending of the successful Healthy Happy Minds pilot programme in 2023.

This programme had extensive cross-party support and our analysis, as well as the Department of Education鈥檚 own evaluation, demonstrated it was an effective programme which provided vital support and a significant return on investment.

Positive priority commitments聽

We do welcome some of the priority commitments, such as:

  • Tackling waiting times聽- ambition to offer 70k more appointments per year and includes the 'longer term' ambition to invest more in primary, community and social care'.
  • Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG) - aim to immediately deliver EVAWG funding through councils to provide investment in grassroots communities.聽
  • Better support for children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN) - a new SEN delivery plan and a commitment to develop a range of early intervention programmes, involving education, health and other professionals.

Steve Mulligan, our Four Nations Lead said,聽

"We are disappointed with the apparent deprioritisation of mental health in the Northern Ireland Programme of Government, in the face of growing and unmet need and against a backdrop where the Mental Health Strategy continues to be massively underfunded". 聽

"This feels like a lost opportunity to prioritise in vital, life-saving support and help to get on top of the mental health crisis facing Northern Ireland.

"There are a few commitments that we do welcome, including actions to provide grass root support to help address violence against women and girls, to improve SEN support in schools through early intervention and to help tackle waiting times for health.

"We are keen to work with government departments to support them to utilise the expertise of our members in supporting these welcomed ambitions."聽 聽