A service user and staff planning day for the National Practice Development Network at the Faenol Fawr, Bodelwyddan in March of last year. We have geographical borders with Flintshire and Wrexham in the East and with Gwynedd in the South and the West. Our overall budget last year was 10 million. Within this budget we provide services for Adults with mental health problems, for people with learning disabilities and for older people with memory problems. A major project currently underway is the re-provision of services from the Gwynfryn site, part of the old North Wales Hospital, in keeping with our policy of continually improving the quality of care offered to our local population.
Mental health is more than simply the 'absence of illness'.
Mental health is the emotional and spiritual resilience which enables us to enjoy life and to survive its pain, disappointments and many sadnesses. It is both a positive sense of well-being and an enduring and underlying belief in our own, and other peoples dignity and value. It is perhaps less concerned with what we believe, more with how firmly we believe things to be a certain way. Our mental health is influenced by many factors, including our individual coping skills, our levels of social support, as well as factors such as adequate housing, employment, financial security and access to appropriate health care. The stigma and misunderstanding which exists around mental health adds greatly to the distress and isolation felt by people who have experienced problems and their friends and families.