Is Northern Ireland’s Mental Health System Beyond Repair? Gerry Carroll MLA Speaks Out
Northern Ireland has one of the highest suicide rates in the UK. Yet the data that would show the full scale of the crisis, mental health waiting lists, remains unpublished by the government. In the latest episode of JustMentalTalk, People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll sits down with JustMental for a conversation that is as […]
Social Media Ban Rejected Again: Starmer Summons Big Tech, But Where Are the Consequences?
Yesterday, MPs voted for the second time against banning social media for under-16s. The result was 256 to 150, a majority of 106 in favour of the government’s position. The Lords had backed the ban twice. The Commons has now rejected it twice. The bill that sparked this debate, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, […]
PMDD: What It Is, Why the System Keeps Getting It Wrong, and Why It Matters for Mental Health
This week, Vicky Pattison appeared on Good Morning Britain to talk about her Channel 4 documentary, Vicky Pattison Investigates: Medical Misogyny. She described waiting five years for a diagnosis. She described suicidal thoughts, crippling anxiety, and exhaustion that doctors dismissed as normal period symptoms. She described being told, by medical professionals, that
Social Media Ban for Under-16s: MPs Vote for the Third Time, and Children Are Still Waiting
Today, the House of Commons votes on banning social media for under-16s. Again. This is the third time in three months that Parliament has returned to this question. The Lords have backed a ban twice. The Commons rejected it once. And today, with the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill back on the parliamentary schedule, the […]
Tell Us Once: Why People with Mental Health Problems Shouldn’t Have to Repeat Themselves
A landmark report published last month calls for a ‘Share Once’ data sharing system so people with mental health conditions can disclose their needs to essential services without having to start from scratch every single time. The government had plans. Those plans stalled. JustMental thinks it’s time to say that plainly. The Problem Nobody Should [&h
How Volunteering Supports Mental Health Recovery in Northern IrelandJustMentalTalk · Guest: Aislinn Byrne, Volunteer Now NI ·
There is a version of the conversation about volunteering that most people have heard. It goes something like this: volunteering is good for the community. It’s a selfless act. You give your time, and other people benefit. That version is true. But it’s also incomplete. Because what Aislinn Byrne from Volunteer Now NI describes in […]
Thomas Ta Walls: When Hitting Your Target Weight Doesn’t Fix the Depression
Thomas Ta Walls: When Hitting Your Target Weight Doesn’t Fix the Depression The story we are told about weight loss follows a reliable arc. Set a goal. Do the work. Hit the number. Feel better. The doctor says well done. Everyone around you says well done. You are supposed to feel it too. Thomas “Ta” […]
Stress Awareness Month 2026: NI’s Mental Health Crisis Goes Beyond Awareness | JustMental
Stress Awareness Month 2026: Why Awareness Alone Isn’t Enough for Northern Ireland Every April since 1992, Stress Awareness Month has tried to shift the national conversation about stress. The theme for 2026 is #BeTheChange. The intention is admirable. The gap between intention and reality is where JustMental lives. Because the statistics this year don’t s
The difference between not wanting your life to end, and not wanting it to continue
Our latest JustMentalTalk episode is one I want to tell you about properly. Clare spent 10 years in an abusive relationship. Not because she didn’t know better, but because she was in survival mode. Normalising what was happening. Keeping everyone else together. And somewhere along the way, losing herself completely. When the mental health crisis […]
World Bipolar Day 2026: The Number That Should Make Everyone Angry
30th March 2026 World Bipolar Day Nine and a half years. That is the average time a person in the United Kingdom waits between first speaking to a doctor about their symptoms and receiving a correct bipolar diagnosis. Not a few months. Not a year or two. Nine and a half […]