‘Reaching out to a politician can feel like a huge step, they might be quite frightened to do it’

MSPs have been urged to “champion” constituents with severe mental illness as a new handbook about mental health has been published.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) have launched its MSP guide to mental health and mental illness in a bid to support elected officials and their staff in their roles.

It is designed to equip MSPs with a better understanding of the difference between various mental health issues, including a definition of terms, tips for handling challenging situations, and how to signpost someone in crisis.

The guide was put together following a rise in MSPs reporting more constituents are coming to them with mental health problems.

It is not designed as a guide to treat or diagnose people with a mental illness, but it is hoped it will help MSPs support all constituents better.

Mental health advocate Graham Morgan, who has lived with paranoid schizophrenia for more than 40 years, urged MSPs to “listen to [us] and take what we say seriously”.

He said: “We are like anyone else, citizens needing a voice heard, and that can be difficult to listen to – but with patience and with an understanding that we are in many ways just like anyone else, that can go a long way.”

Asked whether he felt some people with mental illness may be hesitant to go to MSPs with a problem, related to mental health or otherwise, Morgan said often people felt “quite alienated and marginalised”, and so “reaching out to an official or a politician can feel like a huge step, they might be quite frightened to do it”.

On what MSPs can do to help reduce the stigma around mental illness, he said: “Highlight our situation, look at the inequalities we face and take into practice all the values that we would wish anyone to take with people in the community.

“Treat us as equals, treat us with respect, treat us with dignity and see, above all, that we’re human. And champion those of us that are not heard from and are maybe seen badly by society.”

The guide is the first of its kind in Scotland, though is modelled on a similar publication produced for members of the Senedd in Wales.

The booklet covers how to help constituents in distress, how MSPs can set boundaries, how to suggest that a constituent seeks help, and the establishment of supportive office practices.

It was launched at an event in the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday, sponsored by Labour’s mental health spokesman Paul Sweeney and attended by mental health minister Maree Todd.

Dr Jane Morris, chair of RCPysch in Scotland, described the publication as a “mixture of enhanced common sense and signposting”.

While she was critical that there had not been sufficient resources put in place to meet the rising demand facing mental health services, she added: “It’s actually very good in some ways that at time when the services are inadequate, people are going to their MPs and MSPs. Slipping in a mixture of common sense and signposting is actually a very good way of making sure our colleagues in parliament share the burden of concern.”

Morris also offered advice to MSPs who may be facing their own mental health struggles due to the pressures of their job: “One thing is to remind ourselves that we’re not God, whether we are a psychiatrist or an MSP. It’s always this sense of ‘I will save the world’ and telling ourselves very firmly, that’s a bit arrogant. It’s not realistic. And rather than feeling personal guilt if we can’t solve anything, we have to remember that we’re a whole community.”