Although smoking rates among the general population continue to fall, they have remained disproportionately high among people with lived experience of mental health challenges.
The move towards recovery focused mental health services in Ireland has further highlighted the need to find a way to address nicotine dependence and improve the quality of care inall our mental health services to ensure no one gets left behind. Over the past year, Mental Health Ireland, the HSE Tobacco Free Ireland Programme and people with lived experience of mental health challenges have been working together to identify innovative ways to tackle this growing health inequality. The consensus is that this requires a social movement across the whole system. This will hardwire the voice and experience of people with mental health challenges and their supporters into a common endeavour; to assist people attending mental health services in living a smoke free life.
