Contents
- Time for Reflection
- Topical Question Time
- Portfolio Question Time
- Cycling Action Plan
- Business Motion
- Planning (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3 (Day 1)
- Business Motion
- Parliamentary Bureau Motion
- Decision Time
- Unforgotten Forces Consortium
Time for Reflection
Good afternoon. Our first item of business is time for reflection, for which our leader is Father Mark Kelly, parish priest for the parish communities of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Beith, St Brigid’s in Kilbirnie and St Palladius in Dalry.
Presiding Officer and members of the Scottish Parliament, thank you for the opportunity to address you today.
Jesus said:
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
In addition to my parish duties, I am chaplain to a large Catholic secondary school, where I work with the young people and experience their joys and sorrows and their hopes and fears, as well as supporting the staff who educate the next generation and help it to grow and flourish. I therefore speak from experience when I invite you to reflect on what I describe as the current crisis in teenage and young adult mental health. It is undoubtedly a positive development for us as a society that physical health issues and mental health issues now have parity of esteem and that much of the stigma or taboo about mental health has been lessened, but that welcome change has had unintended consequences.
First, since that long overdue development has happened relatively rapidly, it has meant that the way in which we address and open ourselves up to the challenges in mental health has involved a fairly steep learning curve. Secondly, while ignoring our mental health is disastrous, addressing it in an unstructured or uncontrolled fashion can also be damaging. Thirdly, I fear that the unique fragility and vulnerability of teenagers and young adults during this societal change have yet to be fully recognised in the overall positive step of us all being more willing to discuss and seek to address mental health concerns.
A rapid, unfocused and general opening up of mental health has left some feeling adrift or overwhelmed—albeit that that has never been anyone’s intention or policy—and that disconnect is particularly acute among the young. In addition to the provision of extra support for those who are in immediate crises, I invite you to consider what can be done to provide progressive and long-term developmental help so that all children can gradually adapt into this field as they become teenagers and young adults.
I thank you for the opportunity to address you and I wish you success in your deliberations as you seek to enhance the common good of all while leaving no one behind. Please be assured of people’s continued gratitude and good wishes—and, from those of faith, prayers—for you and the good work that you do. May God bless you all.