The state cabinet today approved the Mental Health and Social Care Policy, becoming the first state in the North East and only the third in the whole of India to have such a policy.
The vision of the Meghalaya Mental Health and Social Care Policy is to promote overall mental health and well-being and facilitate appropriate access and care pathways. The two main pillars of the policy are inter-departmental convergence and robust engagement with communities.
Taking to Twitter, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma stated that this policy will ensure proper attention to mental health, especially for children, adolescents and youth. He added, “We strongly feel that mental health issues are often neglected and hence a comprehensive policy was required to address the issue. This policy will ensure that proper attention is given to mental health, particularly for our youth and adolescents”.
The policy is part of a public health approach adopted by the state for providing mental, psychological and social care for the residents. As part of the Meghalaya State Health Policy, launched in May 2021, a holistic lifecycle approach is being adopted for encouraging preventive and promotive healthcare, along with upholding the curative and enabling dimensions.
Health and Family Welfare Minister James PK Sangma also tweeted about this development and stated, “The policy is culturally rooted in the state and looks to address the stigma linked with mental health. The policy is also community-centric and will improve recognition, rehabilitation and reformation, necessary for creating awareness and building support systems”.
The draft of the mental health policy was announced on October 10, World Mental Health Day. The draft was put in the public domain for feedback from the public and these were reviewed and incorporated into the policy.
The policy will be implemented through convergence across departments and policies while strengthening human resources and community institutions including financial support and infrastructure, a government press release said today.
