The latest Consortium research paper ‘Mental Health Matters for Women’ has now been published and is available on the Consortium’s website. The full report contains a wealth of evidence from women on the contributory factors to their poor mental health, the impact of poor mental health on their lives and the supports they need and are receiving to address mental health issues. A shorter four-page summary of the report is also available which summaries the key findings and recommendations.
The report also contains feedback from staff working with women with mental health issues which details the pressures of this type of work on the staff themselves and issues with funding.
The research makes it very clear the importance of the services of Women’s Centres/Groups in helping women with their poor mental health. It details how ‘lifesaving’ these services often are and how important they are to women, children and families.
The research was launched at an event in Falls Women’s Centre. It was opened by Karen Hall, Mental Health Foundation during Mental Health Awareness Week. Also speaking at the event were two centre users from Falls Women’s Centre who spoke about their own experiences with poor mental health and the help and support they received from Falls Women’s Centre. We want to thank Lee-Ann and Carmel for speaking so powerfully and passionately. Susan McCrory, Manager of Falls Women’s Centre then spoke about the services that the Centres provide in relation to women’s mental health and the event was closed by Karen Sweeney from Women’s Support Network who detailed some of the issues around funding for Women’s Centre services and the value of this community-based research.
We want to thank all those women who contributed to the research report – Centre users, Centre staff and Consortium members. We also want to thank all those who attended the launch event and especially the speakers.
You can read the full report here:
You can read the summary report here:
Siobhán will be spending time over the coming weeks sending details of the report and its findings to relevant stakeholders including politicians, relevant All-Party Groups and Government Departments. Siobhán also carried out an interview with Frank Mitchell from U105 about the report and is meeting with other media outlets to discuss some further coverage.
