We need to be sensitive to factors for wellbeing
We’re living with uncertainty – will things return to some sort of normality? When will the long-awaited Dame Carol Black report be published (p4, p8, p10)? One thing we can rely on is that issues relating to addiction are complex. Furthermore, we know that a public health approach demands that we work with and try to understand the many influences on our behaviour.
Substances, gambling, sex – they’re all part of life, so if we’re to strive for holistic treatment we need to look at the whole picture.
As our cover story says (page 6), this type of behavioural addiction is largely unspoken and misunderstood across health and social care at a time when the pandemic has ‘added to escalation of introspective behaviours’. Dame Black is calling for wholesale system change right across the sector, which could affect all of us. To throw ourselves into grasping this opportunity for change with the energy that Collective Voice suggests (page 10) we need to be sensitive to all contributory factors to an imbalance in wellbeing, from early trauma to ways of coping with the pandemic. Acknowledging the blurred lines between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ behaviour is a vital component.
Read the July/August issue as an online magazine or download the PDF
Claire Brown, editor
Our next print issue is out on 6 September but we’re here all summer online for news and views, so stay in touch!