Kirsten Johnson

Parliament debates Mental Health First Aid

By | Thu 17th January 2019 - 8:19 am

The Backbench debate on incorporating Mental Health First Aid into First Aid At Work legislation is scheduled to take place this morning in Parliament.

The Government statement on this is here, with a debate pack pdf link at the bottom entitled, “Mental health first aid in the workplace”.

One of the reasons I entered politics, as a career musician, was my concern over mental health care and the lack of provision for those experiencing mental ill-health.

In March 2015 I successfully amended Liberal Democrat party policy on Mental Health to include incorporating mental health first aid into physical First Aid at Work courses.

I then worked with Norman Lamb MP in 2016 on an Early Day Motion proposing to change the law so that mental health first aid was required under Health & Safety legislation.

Norman and I attended Mental Health First Aid training together and we are both Mental Health First Aiders. I am so pleased to see that our work has led to cross-party support of this initiative. I very much hope the Backbench Business debate today leads to changes in First Aid At Work legislation. It is imperative that mental health first aid be given equal footing to physical first aid in the work place.

* Kirsten Johnson was the PPC for Oxford East in the 2017 General Election. She is a pianist and composer at www.kirstenjohnsonpiano.com.

Read more by or more about or .
This entry was posted in Op-eds and Parliament.
Advert

2 Comments

  • Suzanne Fletcher 18th Jan '19 - 6:36pm

    very good, hope you post tomorrow how it went, and any press release please ?

  • Chrissie B 18th Jan '19 - 10:54pm

    Great work, Kristen. Thank you. I wonder how you think the Lib Dems could create policy thst works towards prevention? How can we as liberals tackle things like excessive work hours culture, workplace bullying, target culture etc that lead to stress and then in many cases, the development of mental health difficulties.

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • Tony Vickers
    Not higher taxes but different taxes. We said in our 2015 manifesto we'd look at how (not whether) to introduce a Land Value Tax within a single Parliament. Co...
  • Peter Martin
    @ Daniel, You could have a point. Do you mean the government of the Federal Republic Of Germany? They certainly adopted the position of speaking for the ...
  • Steve Comer
    I agree with your sentiments Jack, but does the Party in Wales and it's MS? What little coverage of the Lib Dem campaign in Wales that I heard on news media ...
  • Daniel Walker
    @Peter Martin "Incidentally, the above point about the duty of a national government to adopt policies to ensure a measure of fiscal equalisation in a single...
  • Pawel Urbanski
    Where I grew up in Poland, school lessons finished at 3, but there was optional supervised care until 5 or 6, often just run in the library, for the parents who...