Motion

Motion TitleAddressing the Mental Health Crisis

Motion TextThat this Assembly expresses grave concern over the mental health crisis and the findings from the Northern Ireland Health Survey that, in 2021-22, approximately one in five adults showed indications of possible mental health problems; notes with alarm that the number of antidepressant prescription items dispensed has risen threefold in the last two decades, with an estimated 65 per cent increase in prescriptions dispensed to persons aged under 18 years old from 2014-2022; recognises that the Marmot Review highlights poverty and inequality as key mental health determinants and that a failure to address this structural context will lead to an ever-deepening mental health crisis and an increase in stigma and shame; endorses the May 2024 report, Shifting the Balance Towards Social Interventions: A Call for an Overhaul of the Mental Health System, by the Beyond Pills All-Party Parliamentary Group, and acknowledges that its recommendations align with recent calls from the World Health Organisation and the United Nations for systematic mental health reform; welcomes the Give 5: Steps to a Wellbeing Rights Framework, published by Participation and Practice of Rights, which is designed to complement the Public Health Agency’s Living Well Take 5 campaign; calls on the Minister of Health to integrate the Give 5: Steps to a Wellbeing Rights Framework into all public health messaging on mental health; and further calls on the Minister to set a two-year target to reduce the rate of anti-depressant prescribing.

Motion CategoryPrivate Members' Motion

Date Tabled to Business Office24/03/2026