00:00So, the Mental Health Policy, as mentioned, has been approved, it's there, it was a fantastic
00:08piece of work by the Ministry of Health, and they sought our consultation, and it's published.
00:16So the Mental Health Policy for the UAE is there and available.
00:21The Mental Health Act has been written, it's been reviewed, but it's now out of our hands
00:29in DHA, it's moved on to the legislators, so it will be for them to approve it, inshallah.
00:36In terms of the early intervention, early intervention can have two meanings, as Farah
00:41explained.
00:43On the one hand, early intervention meaning detecting the mental illness early before
00:48people become too unwell, it's easier to treat.
00:52But there's also early intervention from a developmental perspective.
00:57I'm a child psychiatrist, so I'm particularly passionate in development and those early
01:01years, and it really is the time to intervene.
01:06If we can set a secure base for infants and children in the first five years of their
01:10life, the sort of benefits will be long-lasting.
01:16We know that children who have a secure attachment, that have had a solid basis, these children
01:22later, 20, 25 years later, are more likely to be in work, to be married, to have families,
01:27to be less likely to suffer from mental health illnesses, less likely to be using drugs or
01:34other substances.
01:36So it's really the time to invest.
01:39So that's something that Dr. Azhar in Latifa Hospital will be spearheading, the infant
01:43mental health.
01:45With babies and young children, sometimes the presentations can be a little bit, you
01:53know, they're not so straightforward.
01:55The baby doesn't come to you saying, I'm feeling depressed or anxious.
01:59But babies and children come as part of a system, whether some kind of carer or family.
02:04So you want to really take a bit more of a holistic or systemic approach.
02:09So you'd be doing a bit of detective work to find out, you know, even simple things
02:12like, is the baby sleeping, eating, engaging, smiling, you know.
02:18And you can start, are they developing, are they meeting their normal milestones, are
02:23they doing the things they should be doing during those first five years.
02:27And so that's with the little ones.
02:31And actually, as you sort of gain an eye, I suppose, in a way, and that's where the
02:35mental health training comes in, more people will be able to pick up in terms of, OK, these
02:39babies look happy and they're developing normally, but these are the ones that we need to maybe
02:44have a think about what we can be doing to support them and the carers around them.
02:48You know, those early years can be very stressful for families, you know, looking after a baby.
02:55I think there's a saying that each baby needs four, sort of needs a village to bring it up.
03:01Yeah, there's a saying like that.
03:02And I think now we're living in a time where those family structures are not the same,
03:07especially I think it's a challenge in Dubai.
03:09You have a lot of expat families that, you know, it's a working father, maybe a working
03:13mother and, you know, children, and they don't have much to support them.
03:20And I think that puts a lot of strain.
03:22So that's early intervention with the little ones.
03:26With the older children and adults, I mean, when does something become a mental illness?
03:32I mean, you know, we used as a definition in the strategy, we used the WHO definition,
03:38which is not just an absence of illness.
03:42It's when there's a sense of, you know, that you're not feeling satisfied with your life,
03:47that you're not feeling, you know, it's normal to get anxious, to get stressed, to have ups
03:52and downs.
03:53That's part of life.
03:54But when is it actually starting to really affect your sense of well-being?
03:59And then the most critical thing really for diagnosis is, is it impacting your function?
04:03Is it impacting on the relationships with people around you?
04:06Is it affecting your job and your ability to perform?
04:09That's when you start to say, okay, this is the point that we need to take some action.
04:13So at this very moment, we're in the final stages, inshallah, we'll get the approval
04:19for two key training programs.
04:21The first one is for infant mental health, which will be about training up staff throughout
04:26the private and public sector in detecting sort of in knowing what infant mental health
04:33is so that they can detect problems early.
04:36And then a second training program, which is a WHO program to train up primary health
04:43care workers.
04:44So people in the community, and they could be, again, private or public sector, it would
04:49be open to all primary health care workers, community, family physicians, nurses, to help
04:55them detect.
04:56And even more excitingly, even to also manage some of the simple cases so that they can
05:01stay in the community and don't need the more costly, stigmatizing hospital care.
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