Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Mental Health, Wellbeing and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:38 pm on 4 November 2020.
Thank you very much, Mr Davies. And just to clear that there are a set of priorities that have already been set out within the 'Together for Mental Health' plan. Those priorities won't be changed, but what I think you may see is a shift in emphasis, and what I'm hoping is that my appointment will help to speed up the system—that I can really put some focus on some specific areas of attention.
You'll be aware that already we're very focused on issues relating to mental health in young people and that we're very keen to make sure that psychological therapies are also available to people, amongst other things. I'm particularly keen to make sure that we retain that focus and that we go early on that early intervention and make sure there's provision there for that tier 1 and tier 0 support. I've been a long advocate of social prescribing and I'm very keen to see how those pilots that we've already set out are working.
I'm also very keen to make sure that we monitor how this situation changes, because we're still in the depths of this. There will be people who'll lose their jobs in the next few months, and we'll need to make sure that support is put in place for them. Debt is going to become a big issue and we need to make sure that we understand the relationship between debt and mental health, and put some very key support measures in place to support that.
And, then, the other thing, of course, is that this pandemic will impact on some to a greater extent than others. We know that the black and ethnic minority community, for example, are more likely to be affected, and are less likely to go and seek support. And, so, we need to make sure that we give them access to services in a way that they feel comfortable with. And the other thing, of course, is to keep an eye on people who are already, were already, suffering mental health issues prior to the pandemic because they're confronting this in a more difficult way perhaps than many others.