Watch Irish Medical Students Take A Stand For Mental Health Awareness Month

Mental health is an issue that affects everyone, because each and every person occupies a mental space. 

With this in mind, medical students across the country have decided to take stand for Mental Health Awareness Month. These hundreds of students stand in solidarity with the families of the 550 reported cases of suicides a year and with the 33 people who are admitted to A&E every day across the country due to self-harm. 

It's a heartbreaking fact that suicide is the number one killer of people between the ages 16-24. Almost everyone will have a mental health crisis at some stage in their lives, and for this reason it is of utmost importance that we have a functioning support system in place. 

An innovative gang of medical students have made this video as part of their campaign to get more funding for mental health in Ireland. The past government increased the mental health budget by 12.4%, from 711 million in 2012 to 827 million in 2016. However this mental health budget represents only 6.2% of the overall HSE budget of 13.6 billion. This percentage needs to be continually increased in order to reach the recommended level of ~11% as is seen in the UK, Canada, and New Zealand. 

Mental health is equally as important as physical health, so it's about time our politicians started prioritising it in the same way. 

Be sure to share this video and help to raise awareness; the more we talk, the easier it gets.

Join the conversation with #IAmaPriority or #mentalhealthpriority on Twitter.

Should you wish to speak about your mental health in confidence, please contact Aware or the Samaritans.

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