Skip to content

Mental health service cut a 'huge risk' - charity

Gareth Pennant & Elliw Mai Hughes
Newyddion S4C
Getty Images A woman sits curled up on the floor, her head between her kneesGetty Images
A national service to end stigma around mental health is to cease running at the end of March

The decision by Welsh ministers to stop funding a national mental health service is "deeply concerning", according to a mental health charity.

Adferiad warned it created a "huge risk" to people's health.

Time To Change Wales aims to end stigma and discrimination around mental health problems, and will finish at the end of March.

The Welsh government said its commitment to tackling stigma related to mental health had not changed.

The service was launched in 2012 and in recent years had been running as a partnership between mental health charities Mind Cymru and Adferiad.

Ffion Connick, 23, from Ammanford, suffered from mental health challenges at an early age, including anxiety and eating disorder.

Ffion in a field looking at the camera and smiling. She has a dark shoulder length hair and is wearing a yellow sweater
After the Covid pandemic, Ffion Connick says programmes for mental health are needed "more than ever"

"It's heart-breaking," she said.

"It's five years since the Covid pandemic and one of the side effects of that is maybe a new pandemic of mental health problems.

"Where is the sense in getting rid of a programme like this one?

"We need it now more than ever."

Adferiad chief executive Alun Thomas said: "The Welsh government's decision not to continue funding Time to Change Wales is deeply concerning for the many people in Wales who continue to face stigma and discrimination due to their mental health."

He said the service had "transformed attitudes, opened up conversations, and given people with lived experience a platform to challenge misconceptions".

"While we appreciate that the Welsh government has funding pressures, it seems to us that ceasing funding for a programme which has consistently delivered outstanding outcomes, without a plan for the future, is a huge risk to the health and wellbeing of people with a mental health problem in Wales."

Mind Cymru director Sue O'Leary said it would leave a "significant gap in the co-ordination and understanding of anti-stigma work in Wales".

Mental health pressure

Plaid Cymru MS Llyr Gruffydd spoke of his experience of suffering with depression in 2012.

He said sharing his story allowed him to "turn the corner and start getting better".

"Those are the chats that we need to encourage in wider society and that is exactly what programmes like Time to Change Wales do.

"To lose that is short-sighted on the part of the government because what it does of course is stores up problems down the line.

"It makes it more likely there will be increasing pressure on mental health services within the NHS."

The Welsh government said: "We are grateful for all the work Mind Cymru with Adferiad Recovery have undertaken to deliver the Time to Change Wales programme over the last 12 years.

"Our commitment to tackling stigma related to mental health, suicide and self-harm has not changed and we will be working with the third sector and other stakeholders to develop our future approach."