The Minister for Health, Simon Harris, has today (Sunday) announced an additional €1.1 million euro investment in online mental health supports to help people, especially health services staff, manage their mental health during and following the COVID-19 pandemic.
This funding will allow the HSE to deliver a range of additional online and telephone supports to frontline staff and the general population.
Since this pandemic began, there has been:
- an increase of 44 per cent in contacts to SpunOut.
The numbers of people getting in touch due to anxiety and stress has increased by 100%. During this time over 50% of texters get in touch because they have no one else to talk to and almost half (48%) of texters get in touch because they want to talk to someone who didn’t know them
- almost 16,000 calls to Alone with 77 per cent reporting they live alone. Loneliness is a common theme among callers
- a tenfold growth in people seeking online counselling through MyMind. Of these, 35% are seeking support for anxiety and stress and up to 20% making appointments to seek assistance with depression
For anyone who may require additional services or mental health supports, click here for more information on how to access services at this time…
Source: https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/729f22-minister-for-health-announces-additional-investment-in-online-mental/
