Read our new Lewisham People’s Parliament report on mental health
In December 2023 we held a Lewisham People’s Parliament on the subject of mental health. You can read the report by clicking the picture below:
This is the third time we have held a People’s Parliament on mental health. We find that people with learning disabilities enjoy having the chance to talk about mental health. We worked with the Mental Health in Learning Disability team from the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.
Learning disability is often confused with a mental health condition, when in fact they are two very different things.
People with learning disabilities are just as likely to have mental health issues as non-disabled people. Some studies have shown that people with learning disabilities are even more likely to have mental health issues.
We have known for a long time that people with learning disabilities often have worse health than other people. This is especially true for people with learning disabilities from ethnic minority backgrounds. We believe this is also true for mental health.
Some of the things people with learning disabilities said about mental health were:
- Anxiety and depression is the worst thing. It’s good to talk
- When I talk about feeling low, I feel like I’m not listened to
- Sometimes I feel like I can’t go out because I don’t know how I will be accepted in society
Some of the changes people want to see are:
- More time with your GP
- More reasonable adjustments with health appointments
- More groups that you can join to help your mental health
- Having more choice and control in your life
We look forward to doing more work and raising awareness of mental health and learning disabilities in the future. You can also read one of our older reports on mental health.
