Mental health charity calls on Stormont to reinstate the Executive

A spokesperson for the charity said: “Northern Ireland is in crisis mode. There is a mental health crisis, a cost-of-living crisis, a school budget crisis, and a waiting list crisis, and this is all being exacerbated and neglected by a political crisis.

"An Executive urgently needs to be restored and an election avoided. Without an Executive essential funding for mental health and other key services are at serious risk. The rollout of the Mental Health Strategy will be under pressure with no new funding if there is no Health Minister in place.

"Children in primary school may find themselves with no counselling support if there’s no Education Minister to allocate funding to the Happy Healthy Minds programme in the new year.

“Young people who’ve been left behind or significantly set back by the Covid-19 pandemic will once again suffer just as they begin to get back to normality with parents struggling to heat their homes and feed their kids, with schools facing huge bills and growing pressures on teachers, and the health service under strain.”

Pure Mental Policy & Research Manager, Theo Burton, added: “Northern Ireland doesn’t need another election and greater instability, we need investment in a culture of well-being, and an Executive to deliver this.”

Pure Mental NI is a youth-led mental health charity working to improve the mental health education, awareness and services of children and young people across Northern Ireland.