Mum plans better mental health support in memory of lost son

EIGHTEEN years ago, Isabel McCue’s son John took his own life after a series of failings in the mental health system.

Next month, Isabel, 74, will take another step in a journey to help save other mothers from the pain she bears every day.

Isabel will help present the findings of a study into an ambitious plan for the establishment of a one-stop centre for people struggling with poor mental health.

Join The Dots is the latest drive from the spirited grandmother determined to identify gaps in support for people with mental health issues – and close them.

Isabel’s plan involves the creation of a central hub where some of society’s most vulnerable can access support in dealing with everything from advice about benefits and pensions, to mental health support within a supportive community.

It would draw on the Scottish Government’s Social Innovation Fund.

Isabel, who will present the plan at Merchants House, in Glasgow, in June said: “So many people with mental health problems are on a merry-go round. They get a half hour counselling session once a week, and are then left to go back to whatever situation they’re in.

“A care package shouldn’t just be about checking that someone has taken their medication, or giving them the chance to speak to a community psychiatric nurse once a week, and their psychiatrist less than that. That’s not care.

“We are missing something fundamental and that’s the person-centred approach.

“People need a venue where connected services are together in one place when they need it. It’s about giving people what they need, not giving them a leaflet and sending them away.” The widowed mother of three’s tenacity has already seen a grassroots version of the project established at Theatre Nemo’s HQ in Glasgow’s Briggait. Small groups of vulnerable people are accessing support three days a week.

Isabel established Theatre Nemo 17 years ago in memory of her late son, who took his own life in 2000 aged 30.

Isabel has noticed a shift in public attitudes towards mental ill-health in that time, but said: “People are talking about it more than they used to, and I think they understand it better. However, what we need to be talking about now is what is wrong with the system.

“After John died I asked the question, why was this allowed to happen after years of trying to get the right help. It wasn’t about one particular person doing anything wrong, but it was about the system not doing anything right.

“We’ll never know if they could have done any better for John, but they could have gone about things in a whole different way.

“If he was able to come back I think he would say: ‘That’s what you ought to be doing.’ I think he’d be happy to see what’s going on.”