Sharing the Vision: A Mental Health Policy for Everyone Implementation Plan 2022 – 2024

24th March 2022

Minister for Mental Health and Older People Mary Butler has, in conjunction with the HSE, launched Sharing the Vision: Implementation Plan 2022 - 2024.

Sharing the Vision: A Mental Health Policy for Everyone, Ireland’s national mental health policy, was published in June 2020. The Sharing the Vision Implementation Plan 2022 – 2024, the first of three planned implementation plans, outlines a programme of work for the next three years to progress the 100 policy recommendation

Several of the recommendations in the Strategy and the corresponding Implementation Plan relate to improving outcomes for people in contact with the justice system with mental health challenges. These include:

• Recommendation 54 of the Sharing the Vision Strategy states that “every person with mental health difficulties coming into contact with the forensics system should have access to comprehensive stepped (or tiered) mental health support that is recovery-oriented and based on integrated coproduced recovery care plans supported by advocacy services as required.” Identified actions include: complete mental health needs analysis of the prison population; develop a comprehensive tiered forensic mental health model of care; and deliver phased implementation of the tiered mental health service.
  The identified Milestone for 2022 for this action is the completion of a “gap analysis of prison population, with an assessment of gaps in the service to achieve a fully tiered approach.”
   
• Recommendation 55 of the Strategy called for “ongoing resourcing of and support for diversion schemes where individuals with mental health difficulties are diverted from the criminal justice system at the earliest possible stage and have their needs met within community and/or non-forensic mental health settings.” The identified action is to provide ongoing resourcing and support for diversion schemes.
  The plan commits to setting up a sub-working group of the Taskforce for Mental Health and Addiction Challenges for Persons Coming to the Attention of the Criminal Justice System, to review and develop the work of the Prison In-Reach and Court Liaison Service (PICLS), and other diversionary schemes nationally. The identified Milestone for 2022 for this action is to “review works of the PICLS and devise a business case for expanding this and other diversionary schemes nationally.”
   
• Recommendation 56 of the Strategy calls for “development of further Intensive Care Rehabilitation Units (ICRUs)” following successful evaluation of the operation of the new ICRU on the Portrane Campus.
  The identified Milestones for 2022 are to open the Portrane site and commence a review process for new ICRU service to inform the national rollout of ICRU to three other locations
   
• Recommendation 87 of the Strategy calls for the Department of Justice and the Implementation Monitoring Committee, in consultation with stakeholders, to "determine whether legislation needs to be amended to allow for greater diversion of people with mental health difficulties from the criminal justice system.” 
  The identified Milestones for 2022 are to publish the report of the HLTF and for the Departments of Health and Justice and other key stakeholders to “develop a plan to address associated recommendations, which will include all or any recommended legislative amendments concerning diversion.”
   

The full Sharing the Vision: Implementation Plan 2022 – 2024 is available here.

Media:

• Irish Examiner: HSE commits to plan to divert prisoners with mental illnesses