4858 Mental Health Report - National University of Ireland, Galway

Collaborative Practice and Policy
objectives with regard to cross-border working. It was also mentioned that
people should be trained properly and given the necessary human resources.
Other
Other points raised were that interested parties throughout the island should be
enabled to collaborate on projects and not just communities close to the border.
This type of working should be less funding driven and more aimed at promoting
the value of joint working. It takes time to communicate and build up networks
and this must be acknowledged.
The benefits to the communities in both jurisdictions demand that we should
promote mental health for its own sake on a cross-border basis. There is a need
to identify and standardise what works and then incorporate it into joint health
policy.
Invited Reflections on Phase 1 Findings
Following the study day discussion groups, questionnaires were sent with a copy
of the newsletter to all who had been invited to the study day. A number of
closed and open-ended questions were asked to further explore perceptions of
cross-border working. The results of this exercise are now presented. The
questions were based on the findings from the group discussions and were
circulated to a wider group, many of whom were involved in Phase 1 but did not
attend the study day in Armagh.
A total of 41 questionnaires were returned. Responses from Northern Ireland
accounted for 61% (n=25) and responses from the Republic of Ireland accounted
for 39% (n=16) of the returned sample.
From the total respondents, 90% (n=36) were either currently involved in crossborder
working or had been involved in the past. 33% (n=12) mentioned CAWT
as their conduit for involvement in cross-border working. The type of activities
mentioned were varied and ranged from once off projects to a wide range of
health promotion and public health initiatives.
Organisations with a mental health promotion focus accounted for 79.5% (n=31)
of the respondents. However only 29.4% (n=10) of those actually had a policy
document or strategic document outlining strategic goals for mental health
promotion.
The study day in Armagh was attended by 41.5% (n=17) of the respondents.
52.5% (n=21) of the respondents made comments on the interim (Phase 1) report.
It was generally felt that the report was very informative and that there were
considerable advantages to pooling experiences and examples of good practice.
One commentator felt that there should have been some acknowledgement of
the effects of the ‘Troubles’ on mental health.
68