Northern Ireland Mental Health Waiting Times: The Department of Health Just Told Us It Isn’t Publishing Them, and Then Missed Its Own Promise to Start
Why we filed the FOI On Tuesday 30 June 2026, JustMental launched the 107 a Day campaign, calling for the establishment of a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Response Team in each of Northern Ireland’s five Health and Social Care Trust areas. The campaign was built around figures placed on the public record by Assistant Chief […]
Northern Ireland Mental Health Strategy ‘Will Never Be Delivered’
Northern Ireland’s Mental Health Champion Says the Strategy Will Never Be Fully Delivered The Northern Ireland Mental Health Strategy will never be delivered in full, according to the woman appointed to champion it. Professor Siobhán O’Neill, Mental Health Champion for Northern Ireland since 2020, told JustMentalTalk host Karl Bennett that six years after
Meta Child Safety Settlement: $17 Billion Changes Big Tech
Meta child safety settlement: $17 billion, and the design changes it forces The Meta child safety settlement announced this week is the biggest of its kind in history, and, unusually for these stories, the money may be the least important part of it. On Wednesday 26 August 2026, Meta agreed to a proposed settlement of […]
Robbie Butler Health Minister: What Changes Now?
Robbie Butler Confirmed as Northern Ireland’s Health Minister: What It Means for Mental Health Robbie Butler MLA has been confirmed as Northern Ireland’s new Health Minister, a week after Mike Nesbitt resigned from the role. Robbie Butler Health Minister appointments don’t happen often mid-mandate, and this one arrived fast: Nesbitt quit on Tuesday 1
Meta social media trial: 29 states, a federal court, and a reckoning over children’s mental health
The Meta social media trial that opened this week in Oakland is the moment years of warnings finally reached a federal courtroom, and it should matter to every parent, on either side of the Atlantic. On Tuesday 18 August 2026, opening statements began in a landmark case brought by California on behalf of 29 states, […]
Children witnessing domestic abuse: the trauma that can last a lifetime
The harm done to children witnessing domestic abuse doesn’t stop when the shouting does, and new figures show more adults than ever are worried about it. The NSPCC, whose UK Helpline is based here in Belfast, has reported that contacts about a child experiencing domestic abuse have reached their highest level since records began: 8,448 […]
Grief After Suicide: Cara Hunter MLA’s Story | JustMental
Grief After Suicide: Cara Hunter MLA on Loss, Advocacy, and a System Still Under Strain This is not wellness. This is war against stigma. Grief after suicide is not something most politicians talk about publicly, let alone honestly. Cara Hunter MLA does both. In a new episode of JustMentalTalk, the SDLP MLA for East Londonderry […]
Chris Quinn NICCY Interview: NI’s Commissioner Speaks Out on a System “At a Crossroads”
JUSTMENTAL | INTERVIEW In this Chris Quinn NICCY interview, Northern Ireland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People speaks candidly about a mental health system he describes as being at a crossroads, and about what young people across Northern Ireland are actually living through right now. Chris Quinn has spent his entire career in youth work […
The NI schools behaviour review: before the consequence, understand the child
The new NI schools behaviour review, and the appointment of an independent adviser the media have dubbed a “behaviour tsar”, raises important questions we think are worth asking out loud. Education Minister Paul Givan has appointed behaviour expert Tom Bennett to lead a review of behaviour policy and practice across Northern Ireland’s schools, running from [
Childline exam stress support in demand as Northern Ireland results days arrive
The scale of Childline exam stress support tells you something we don’t say often enough: for a lot of young people, exam season is not just tough, it’s genuinely distressing. New figures from the NSPCC’s Childline service show it delivered 1,679 counselling sessions to young people across the UK about exam and revision stress in […]