The Chief Executive of Action Mental Health (AMH) has raised concerns about the future of the service across Northern Ireland and what the loss of £2m funding from the European Social Fund (ESF) as a result of Brexit will mean for the service.

The charity supports 98 people in their Enniskillen branch, through the flagship Action Mental Health New Horizons [AMHNH] programme which supports the recovery of adults experiencing mental ill health who are interested in progressing towards further education, training or employment and other programmes such as Men’s Shed, BOOST and schools programmes.

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter, David Babington, the Chief Executive of AMH said: “We’ve got the end of the European Social Fund (ESF) funding on March 31 and there’s no real replacement for it.

“There is some alternative funding called the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and it’s been created and will be run from Westminster by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and it’s been designed really primarily by the people in Westminster with what they’ve experienced over in England. There has been some input from Northern Ireland, but base is not being led by the NI Departments.

“Our concern is what is that going to look like, [currently] it’s very much focused on those people who are closest to the workplace.

“It’s very much an employability programme so a lot of people in the recovery service [AMHNH] get jobs but it’s not going to look after those people who’ve got significant issues, and need time to look after those issues.

Breaking down the stark impact of the funding issues, David said: “1,000 adults a day come into our service, I highly suspect that probably about 200 of them are people who are going to move through things rapidly and therefore will be appropriate for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund so that’s 20 per cent of our clients who will be appropriate for that programme.

“So what is going to happen to the other 80 per cent, that’s our really big concerned, so at the moment, nobody’s really giving us an answer to that.

“And some of the local match funders such as the Health Trusts said they may keep that in place or not and we don’t know at this stage.”

Caroline Ferguson, service manager for Action Mental Health New Horizons in Enniskillen broke down how it will impact services across NI, she said: “From a client’s perspective, in terms of the significance of our ESF funding, it would certainly impact on job roles and posts for our staff, and it cannot I’m sure avoid the impact of that then on in terms of clients places in our service and capacity for clients to attend.

“For some of our clients, they are coming five days a week to us, for some of our clients there regular routine is so important to them. The majority of people would come three days a week.”

Further Caroline said: “One of the other things is about the community aspect of AMH for somebody coming in to meet somebody, we often say some of the real recovery happens with other clients, not necessarily in some of the formal classes that we run, we say this all the time, coming in and meeting other people who have the same experiences and knowing that you’re not alone in this journey. Our clients are so supportive of each other.”

The AMH team have been lobbying various people across NI and UK society including the Mental Health champion Siobhan O’Neill and Minster for State Steve Baker.

As part of their interview with this newspaper, David highlighted some of the underfunding that is currently experienced in NI. He said: “Northern Ireland as mental health sector has been for a generation underfunded.

“We’ve got 27 per cent less funding than in England, 20 per cent less than Ireland, and England since those statistics were confirmed two years ago, has increased its funding and I suspect that now the differential is 30 per cent.”

Currently in Enniskillen, AMH supports 98 people and has 11 staff who work across all programmes, the charity is one of the leading charities in Northern Ireland for supporting those with mental health issues.

If you need support, the following services can help.

You can call the Samaritans, free, at 116 123.

Aisling Centre, Enniskillen; telephone 028 66 325811; see their site at www.theaislingcentre.com.

Action Mental Health/New Horizons; telephone 028 6632 3630; see their site at www.amh.org.uk.

Young Minds; telephone 0808 802 5544; see www.youngminds.org.uk.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS); telephone 028 6634 4115.