Cornwall’s first Mental Health Summit leaves the next step to you

Last Friday, the council chamber at Lys Kernow filled up with health professionals, community groups, council leaders and people who know first-hand what it is like to struggle with their mental health. They came with one shared task. Work out what Cornwall needs to change.

They came up with four answers. Now the rest of the county is being asked whether they got it right.

Cornwall’s first Mental Health Summit

Cornwall Council held the county’s first Mental Health Summit at Lys Kernow on Friday 30 October. Residents sent in questions before the event, and the day was hosted by BBC Spotlight political reporter Seb Noble.

The expert panel included representatives from:

• Cornwall Council
• NHS Devon and Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board
• Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
• Primary care networks
• Cornwall Mind and other mental health organisations

What came out of the room will now feed into a new Cornwall Mental Health Declaration, which the council says is aimed at improving mental health and wellbeing in communities across the county.

The four priorities

Four key priorities were identified on the day:

1. Mental health at the heart of decisions. Making mental wellbeing a key consideration in decisions on housing, transport, planning and economic development.
2. Prevention first. Helping people get support earlier and strengthening community-based services.
3. A “no wrong door” approach. So people are not passed from one service to another when they ask for help.
4. Evidence and lived experience. Using both to keep improving support and outcomes.

What the council says

Council Leader Cllr Leigh Frost said: “Mental health and wellbeing affects every community, every family and every generation.”

He said the summit had brought together a wide range of voices to find shared priorities, adding: “The ideas and feedback gathered will play an important role in shaping the Cornwall Mental Health Declaration.”

Cllr Thalia Marrington, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Public Health, said: “The summit created space for open and honest conversations about both the challenges people face” and the opportunities ahead. Thalia said working with communities, organisations and people with lived experience would help produce a declaration that reflects what matters most to Cornwall.

Director of Public Health Dr Eunan O’Neill said: “The insights shared at the summit will help ensure the declaration is shaped by evidence, lived experience” and the views of local people. Eunan said the work builds on Cornwall’s Mental Health Needs Assessment and the review of the county’s Suicide Prevention Strategy.

How to have your say

The declaration is due to be published in the coming weeks. Until then, residents can keep sharing their views through the council’s Let’s Talk page for the Cornwall Mental Health Declaration.

If you missed the summit, you have not missed it for good. Technical difficulties meant it could not be livestreamed on the day, so a recording will be posted on Cornwall Council’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

📷Cornwall's first Mental Health Summit at Lys Kernow. Credit: Cornwall Council