Ms Nicola Byrne:

We just added on a survey this week to get up-to-date statements. It was very interesting to see the lack of awareness and understanding of the process and what is going on. After all, this will be an historic piece of legislation that will change the way people experience mental health services into the future. We would not need to address some of these issues if we talked about early intervention and community services. With the discontinuation of day services that were previously provided in the community by the HSE it is now vital that community and voluntary sector organisations are funded in a manner that enables them to provide a wider much-needed range of services. Funding and additional backing should also be provided for things like the early intervention in psychosis initiative to improve the long-term outcomes for people with experience of psychotic illness.

In Shine, following our work and experience, we believe the promotion of community support mechanisms at a local level can prevent mental health difficulties from becoming more complex. In this regard, we support the recommendation to include a provision for the right to community mental health services in the amended legislation. Based on the experiences shared with us by people who use our services, this would provide alternatives to inpatient facilities. It will also contribute to reducing the number of cases that evolve into more complex mental health difficulties. This is also raised in Article 26 of the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities regarding habilitation and rehabilitation.

To quote some of our service users:

It is very important that addressing and educating all members of the community in ASIST, safeTALK and Understanding of Self Harm, that these tools may help someone who is ... vulnerable and unsafe and that the person who has the techniques and information can help and assist this person and be there as a trustworthy and kind person to listen...

Another person said,

The most significant finding I have always maintained is that there are a lot of instances where there is a specific benefit of treatment under the relevant health care scheme in cases where there is a breakdown in family relationships. For example, following a bereavement or in the case of an attempt to prevent the incidence of loss of life or the incidence of harm to an individual or individuals. In these cases, support in the community from a multi-disciplinary team is always a good idea.

Finally, somebody else said: "I want to impress on the government how effective community care is to individuals with mental health conditions and hope these services will be made available to all who need it."