Councillors open up on mental health struggles
TWO councillors have opened up about their battles with mental health.
Faisal Rana and Liam O’Rourke both gave candid and emotional accounts of their struggles with depression during a heated debate on government funding.
They spoke out at a virtual Rochdale full council meeting after Coun Sue Smith tabled a motion calling on ministers to ‘prioritise the nation’s mental health,’ noting ‘increasing numbers’ of people were suffering due to the pandemic.
The Conservatives took umbrage with the Labour motion’s claim that the government needed to be made ‘fully aware’ of the crisis’ negative impact on people and the ‘additional strain’ on the NHS.
Deputy group leader Coun Pat Sullivan said this was ‘ridiculous’ and accused Labour of ‘willfully’ ignoring everything being done by the government including a pledge to plough £2.3bn into mental health services by 2024.
Coun Rana claimed a Tory amendment - which called for the council to thank the health secretary - was ‘about making excuses for the government, not standing up for the people of Rochdale.’
But he said the issue of funding was ‘not the whole story’ and revealed how he had been plunged into crisis after suffering a family bereavement.
He said: “I always thought I was strong being a military man.
“But in 2013 my brother passed away with bowel cancer and I was under severe mental issues and severe mental problems.
“I almost went to harm myself and I almost thought about killing myself. I had to go under severe treatment by the doctors and was on anti-depressants for a long time.”
Coun Rana, who was born in Pakistan, added that his mother had been sectioned at Birch Hill Hospital but struggled with the language barrier. When visiting, he often found her sitting in the corridors instead of the TV room with others.
“Does that mean those people from the BAME community who cannot express themselves should be treated differently?” he added.
“No Mr Mayor. I think there are serious inequalities in the health system and the government needs to do more.”
The Conservatives called for the motion to be rewritten in a form that could command crossparty support, noting that a similar offer had already been made by Coun O’Rourke.
But the North Heywood councillor said Coun Sullivan’s ‘dismissal’ of Labour ‘trotting out the same old things’ - which came after Coun Rana’s revelations - had been beyond the pail.
“Do you want to know why we don’t think you are taking it seriously? Because that’s how you treat this issue,” he said.
“I’ll come clean, I have suffered from mental illness in the past.
“I’m forever thankful to Coun Neil Emmott when, having suffered with depression, I was lying in bed one day missing an event with Councillors Rush and Dutton.
“He phoned me to say ‘blumming ‘eck, Liam, they’re a bit annoyed at you.’ He then spent an hour on the phone with me as I broke down.”
“Those services weren’t available then. In fact when I finally got an appointment it was a case of ‘so what pills do you want Liam.’”
Coun O’Rourke said he was lucky to have recovered from his depressive episode with the help of friends, family and colleagues.
And while he ‘hoped to God’ newly announced government funding would improve matters, Labour could not take it seriously ‘on the basis of previous evidence.’
He called for councillors to unanimously vote the Labour motion, but it passed without the support of the Conservative group.