Mental Health Support

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:39 pm on 2 March 2021.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mark Isherwood Mark Isherwood Conservative 1:39, 2 March 2021

Last week, the Mental Health Foundation called for a new cross-Welsh-Government strategy on preventing mental health problems, including widened access to social prescribing, such as arts projects, peer-to-peer projects and access to nature, and action to address rural mental health. How, therefore, do you respond to several retired constituents who e-mailed me last week stating,

'We're now starting to suffer health issues because of the lockdown. Mentally we can't take much more. The lanes where we live are narrow, but unrestricted, dangerous, and traffic moves very fast. They're definitely not safe to walk on. We did, until now, understand the reasons for not allowing bubbles. At the moment, that frankly feels very desperate. People like us see no-one, talk to no-one and are beginning to have health issues due to this isolation. Please appeal to the Welsh Government, putting forward the concerns of people such as ourselves, since there are a great deal of them in rural Wales. All we ask is for an extended travel rule to different local beaches or open spaces and our bubbles so that we can talk, cry and support'?