AGENCIES working in partnership across St Helens have agreed to focus their efforts to address children’s and adults’ mental health issues.
St Helens People’s Board was formally constituted in January 2017 and carries out the statutory functions of the health and wellbeing board and the community safety partnership.
Since its inception, the People’s Board has worked on a range of issues affecting the people of St Helens, although much of its focus has been on driving forward the borough’s new integrated care system, St Helens Cares.
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In January and February of this year, development days took place that allowed partners to look at how well the board had worked and what the new priorities of the board should be.
On Wednesday, the People’s Board agreed four priorities for the next three years.
While not formally agreed by the board, domestic abuse had already been highlighted earlier in the year as one of the key priorities.
Speaking to the board on Wednesday, Professor Sarah O’Brien, strategic director of people’s services, said domestic abuse spans both the community safety agenda and health and wellbeing, as well as its safeguarding agendas.
One of the other key priorities is around children’s mental health, which the board is calling “children and young people’s confidence and resilience”.
Professor Sarah O’Brien, strategic director of people’s services
“We’ve termed it like that, rather than children and young people’s mental health, because even though that’s part of that agenda I think it is about building confidence and resilience in our young people from a very early age,” Prof O’Brien said.
The last two priorities will focus on mental health in adults and cancer.
“That doesn’t mean that other areas like self-harm and suicide and alcohol and other crime issues in the borough aren’t going to be addressed, because there’s already lots of work going on,” Prof O’Brien said.
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“But this is about saying us as a strategic partnership, what are the areas we want to focus on?”
Prof O’Brien said a detailed action plan on the key priorities will return to the People’s Board at its November meeting.
The People’s Board agreed the proposed priorities for 2019- 2022.
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