Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Mental Health, Wellbeing and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:50 pm on 4 November 2020.
Well, I think the first thing to say is that we must be careful not to look at mental health problems as simply being a health issue; it does relate to issues such as unemployment, relationship issues, debt problems. There are all sorts of contributing factors here, and that is why you can't simply put it in one box labelled 'health'. That's why the intervention has to be intervention that is cross-governmental, and I know that you, Rhun, would recognise that.
I am concerned if people are being turned away from assistance when they seek assistance in terms of mental health. I think what we need to be careful of is that we don't push people into a situation where we medicalise their problem. We need to ensure that we do offer that support at the lower level first and, if they need further assistance, that we do increase provision as we move forward. So, we must ensure that, for example, GPs do have the necessary resources and the routes to ensure that people are diverted to the assistance that they need, which isn't necessarily going to be medical in each case.