Councillors have unanimously agreed to support the #IPledge2Talk suicide prevention campaign.
The campaign was launched at the Senedd in collaboration with Mind Cymru and promotes awareness of mental health and wellbeing.
The interim leader of the council, Cllr Barbara Jones, introduced the motion to Caerphilly County Borough Council’s full council meeting on Wednesday (October 23).
She said: “In Wales more than 300 people die each year by suicide.
“In 2017, 278 of the 360 lives lost were male.
“We all have our part to play in helping those experiencing mental health issues; our support of the #IPledge2Talk campaign acknowledges the council’s crucial role in promoting awareness of mental health and wellbeing.”
Cllr Nigel Dix asked what would be done to reach homeless people.
The corporate director for social services David Street said: “We now have staff in our mental health services working very closely with housing colleagues in terms of homelessness, in terms of issues we have with anti-social behaviour and also helping housing staff allocate priority with the waiting lists.”
“We’ve brought together our existing resources to help overcome some of those problems.”
Cllr Colin Mann said that the council should be pressurising other authorities to make mental health a priority.
He said: “I’m sure other members like myself have had constituents approaching them about huge waiting lists and a huge waiting time for young people trying to get any access at all to help on the mental health side.”
The council also agreed to appoint Cllr Colin Gordon, cabinet member for corporate services, as the council’s mental health champion.
Cllr Gordon’s role will be to ensure mental wellbeing is a priority across all areas of the council’s work.