The mental health fight is not over
On Tuesday night, I was lucky enough to be invited to Buckingham Palace for a reception to thank people who have been involved in the mental health world over the last year. It was one of those pinch-me moments for most of us there, proof that we had managed to take huge negatives and turn them into massive positives. Activists, doctors, teachers and charity workers mingled with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. The stiffest of upper lips had officially softened. This was a sight that was unthinkable for many just a couple of years ago.
When I look back on the last few months, I find it extraordinary to see what progress has been made when it comes to smashing the stigma surrounding mental illness. However, yesterday it was announced that the Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust had been placed in special measures for failing to address concerns raised back in 2014. The private sector has problems, too. Last week it was revealed that a young woman was found dead at a private psychiatric hospital in central London.
In a one-off podcast I did this week with Sue Baker, the director of the mental health campaign Time To Change, she said that if the sector was climbing a mountain then currently it is still at the foothills. Glitzy receptions are lovely in that they recognise the importance of people like Baker who work so hard to affect real change. But let us not forget that the battle for parity of esteem between mental and physical health is far from over.
There is, sadly, still much work to be done.