Malta is facing a “crisis in mental health services” with increased awareness leading more people to seek government services, where waiting lists keep getting longer and psychologists are burned out, according to the president of the Chamber of Psychologists, Gail Debono.
Debono made the comment in a Facebook post in which she said that this situation could be addressed by improving the sectoral agreement for psychologists working with the State.
The agreement expired in December and negotiations on the new agreement are ongoing.
Speaking to Times of Malta, she said she shared the post in reaction to comments made in public criticising the public mental health services following recent suicides.
She said that while the increase in awareness about how people can seek help was positive, this meant that more people than ever before are seeking the government’s mental health services.
The waiting lists are getting longer, yet, timely intervention is crucial, she said.
“It is impossible to run mental health services without psychologists. The psychologist is the only mental health professional (apart from psychiatrists) who is qualified and legally responsible to give a complete mental health service,” she said.
Prefer private sector due to work conditions
But newly graduated psychologists preferred working in the private sector due to better work conditions. The majority of those who work with the government reach middle management and are left there as there are few opportunities for career advancement, she said.
Those who work with the government are burned out with no time to work privately to make up for lower income, she said.
She later elaborated that the sectoral agreement expired in December and negotiations are ongoing to improve the working conditions of psychologists working in the field.
Research into national suicide rates over the past 20 years shows that while the average number of annual deaths by suicide has remained steady, what was once predominantly a male issue has been gradually becoming more of a female one, too.
Over the past five years, the ratio has been one woman for every four men, an analysis by researcher Melvyn Camilleri has shown.
According to police data, despite a 25 per cent increase in the population over the past 10 years, an average of 24 people die by suicide every year.
Last month, the Richmond Foundation said it received “a worrying amount” of phone calls from people who said they were thinking of suicide.
The increase ‒ which was also reflected in calls by concerned parents ‒ followed the unexpected death of three young men. Another two sudden deaths occurred this past week.
In November last year, the government launched a new 24/7 mental health helpline, slashing funds to a similar hotline 1770 run by the Richmond Foundation.
When a person calls the government crisis line – 1579 – they speak to one of eight psychologists operating from an office near Mount Carmel Hospital, in Attard.