Mental Health, 24 May 2015
On 24th May, the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office hosted a Roundtable focusing on the issue of Mental Health. South Africa’s mental health care implementation landscape is poor. There is a serious shortfall in the roll out of the necessary resources: budget; health care professionals; hospitals; outpatient clinics; and research to address mental health concerns. Furthermore, the severity and scale of mental illness in South Africa cannot be divorced from the dire socio-economic circumstances which confront far too many of our people. It is clear that addressing the well-being of South African society requires an integrated, holistic and intersectoral approach. The Roundtable was addressed by Professor Dan Stein who is Head of the Dept. of Psychiatry & Mental Health at the University of Cape Town and Director of the Medical Research Council’s Unit on Anxiety & Stress Disorders; Dr Nicola Plastow, a senior lecturer in Occupational Therapy in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University as well as Mental Health Care Practitioners Rene Minnies and Chanelle Albertyn from the Cape Town Mental Health Society.
Standing: Lois Law (Resercher, CPLO) & Fr Matsepane Morare (Moderator and Researcher at the CPLO)
Seated: Prof Dan Stein; Dr Nicola Plastow; Ms Chanelle Albertyn; and Ms Rene Minnies
Presentations:
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