It is about life - national strategy in the area of mental health and suicide prevention

Christian Carlsson (KD)

Madam Speaker! There are many people out there who are suffering. Mental ill-health in our country is extensive and in parts also growing. More children, not least young girls, experience increased anxiety and worry. This affects all areas of life. It becomes harder to complete studies, establish oneself on the labor market, and start a family. For far too many people, existence appears so dark that they see no other way out than to end their lives.

During 2024, SOS Alarm received 24,800 calls where someone had thoughts of taking their own life. It is an avalanche-like increase.

Mental illness strikes broadly and affects entire families. Many parents feel despair over that their own children, those they love most, are suffering so much that they say they no longer know if they can go on living. At the same time, one feels a brutal powerlessness when experiencing that the help for one's child is not provided in time.

The care queues for BUP tripled under the previous government's rule. According to figures from SKR, over 7,200 children across the country were in queue for child and adolescent psychiatry in January. The inequality between the 21 self-governing regions is also devastating. In Västerbotten, which is at the bottom when it comes to accessibility, there were over 1,000 children waiting in queue, but only 11 percent received a first visit at BUP within the care guarantee's 30 days. In Sörmland, it was 18 percent. At the same time, in Uppsala, it was fully possible to offer 75 percent of the children care in time.

These regional differences and this regional inequality are not acceptable. Sweden truly needs a concerted effort for mental health.

We need to continue to strengthen psychiatry and psychiatric competence in primary care. School health services also need to be strengthened. But the truth is that the entire society needs to be involved in working so that more people feel well and so that those who do not feel well can receive support in time. Therefore, I am pleased that as chairman of the Committee on Social Affairs during this spring, I have received the government's communication. It is about life – national strategy for mental health and suicide prevention.

In January 2025, the government published its action plan for the implementation of the national strategy for the period 2025–2026. It is unique that so many agencies have been involved in the development of the new strategy. It is unique in a Swedish context and also unique within the EU and internationally.

The Christian Democrats and the government have ensured a major investment in primary care and first-line psychiatry so that more people can receive care in a timely manner and at the correct level of care. We are allocating an additional 1.6 billion SEK annually to municipalities and regions to develop care for mental ill-health, shorten the queues for care, and develop preventive and promotional work. We are also implementing an increased investment in accessibility to child and adolescent psychiatry, the so-called BUP billion. We are also currently preparing proposals to strengthen the healthcare guarantee.

On December 12, the national mental health support line, Hjälplinjen, opened, and we have also increased support for civil society's help phones and support activities.

To those who above all demand more resources in this area, it can also be said that the 2025 supplementary budget means that an additional 500 million kronor is allocated during 2025 to, among other things, expand the number of care beds within adult psychiatry. Socialstyrelsen is also tasked with carrying out additional measures to support the regions when it comes to the transition between child and adolescent psychiatry and adult psychiatry. The supplementary budget also contains a reinforced investment of 50 million kronor to shorten the queues to child and adolescent psychiatry. This shall enable the regions to increase referrals to highly specialized care for children and young people with eating disorder issues in order to reduce the pressure and shorten the queues to bup so that more sick people can receive care in time.

But it is not all about more resources. It is also about using the resources correctly.

We have therefore established national development teams to help the regions increase accessibility, efficiency, productivity and quality in specialized psychiatry so that more people can benefit from the good examples that actually exist and so that those who are lagging behind get the opportunity to learn from the best.

We have also appointed a national coordinator for the suicide prevention work in the form of Karin Schulz.

The best thing, of course, is if we can prevent mental ill-health. We cannot simply cure away the care queues for psychiatry. My hope is therefore that the national strategy shall constitute a substantial starting point for strengthening both the preventive work and psychiatry throughout Sweden.

The national strategy, the action plan with the government's prioritized measures, and the mandate for the Public Health Agency and the National Board of Health and Welfare to collaborate with approximately 25 agencies have good prospects of making a difference. The preventive and promotional work shall be strengthened, the queues shall be shortened, and care and nursing shall be improved. More people shall be given the opportunity to feel well and look toward the future with hope and optimism. Sweden shall become a healthier country. The hope is that fewer people in Sweden shall need to suffer and that more shall receive support in time.

I would therefore like to thank you very much for the work that has paved the way for the new national strategy for mental health and suicide prevention. I would also like to thank you for the broad support here in the Riksdag behind the government's strategy.

It is, after all, about life.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Anna Vikström (S)

Madam Speaker! In a survey, approximately every second girl and every fifth boy aged 13–15 report that they have felt down more than once a week during the last six months. Among people over 65 years of age, just over 40 percent of women and barely 30 percent of men report that they have mild or severe problems with anxiety, worry, or distress.

Mental illnesses and syndromes, primarily in the form of diagnosed conditions such as depression and anxiety syndromes, are among the major diseases of the people and account for over 40 percent of all sick leaves. It is good that the government is continuing the former Minister for Social Affairs Lena Hallengren's assignment from 2020 with a national strategy for mental health and suicide prevention.

The national strategy aims to provide a long-term direction for the work during the period 2025–2034 based on a cross-sectoral approach that creates conditions for a common direction for the entire society in the work with mental health and suicide prevention. The vision for the strategy is a society that promotes good and equal mental health in the entire population and where no one should end up in such a vulnerable situation that the only way out is perceived to be suicide.

The four goals are:

improved mental health in the entire population

fewer lives lost in suicide

reduced addressable differences in mental health

reduced negative consequences due to psychiatric conditions.

It has been a broad effort to develop the basis for the strategy. A large number of organizations, 26 agencies, patients, users, relatives, SKR and municipalities have participated. It is very impressive and positive, and I want to join the previous speakers in thanking all these participants.

We stand behind the content of the letter and have no other motions. To produce this strategy is, as said, originally a proposal from a Social Democratic government.

Madam Speaker! We do, however, see a clear contradiction between part of the content of the letter and the government's policy in various areas, and I shall give some examples of that.

It states that children and young people who grow up with good living conditions have better prospects for developing mental well-being, which also reduces the risk of mental ill-health and suicide later in life. It also says quite a lot about the importance of equal living conditions and that it provides better conditions for, for example, children to develop mental well-being. It also states in the letter and the strategy that people's mental health is often worse the lower socioeconomic status they have in society.

But what has been the government's policy in recent years? Yes, to increase inequality in society with large tax cuts for high-income earners. The government has removed the housing allowance from those most in need, they did not increase the child allowance during the crisis, and they have also not acted forcefully when food prices have skyrocketed. Most recently, the high-cost protection for pharmaceuticals was increased, which will also affect the mentally ill.

Inequalities have increased in society. The rich are getting richer, and child poverty has increased. Instead of reducing mental ill-health and the risk of suicide, this policy risks increasing those risks.

It is stated that unemployment is a risk factor for mental ill-health, and it is also stated regarding the importance of increasing participation in the workforce. That is correct. But unemployment is at record levels, and Arbetsförmedlingen has not been given the conditions to fulfill its mission. Unemployment is particularly serious for young people – there is research that has shown that more than 24 weeks of unemployment in youth can double the risk of mental ill-health later in life for a long period after this period of unemployment.

It is stated in the strategy regarding the importance of preventing life crises that can trigger a suicide attempt, for example, economic crises and over-indebtedness. Therefore, it is serious that the inflow of cases to the Enforcement Authority has continued to increase, as has the number of persons with debt at the Enforcement Authority. The applications for debt restructuring are at a historically high level.

The communication also mentions the need for increased support to civil society organizations, which have an important role. We agree. But the government nevertheless continues on the path of cuts, among others for student unions with 500 million.

According to the strategy, care is to be improved in a number of areas. We agree with that as well. But what we see happening instead are cuts within psychiatry, where 11 of 21 regions have made savings. It is difficult to get an exact picture of the extent of these cuts, but when 50 doctors within psychiatry write a joint letter stating that patient safety is threatened after the cuts in Region Östergötland, there is reason to be concerned.

That there are targeted state grants to psychiatry is important. We had that too. But the government has now let the healthcare system go to its knees for several years with warnings and subsequent reductions in staff, and in that case, targeted state grants do not have as great an effect.

Madam Speaker! In summary, the strategy is good, but the government's policy within strategic areas to make it a reality is not. When it comes to the government's action plan for the implementation of the national strategy, something that has also been mentioned, I think it is a bit more historically retrospective than forward-looking. I count at least ten investigations and proposals that were put forward by our government.

We Social Democrats might feel flattered, but I still think it is a bit strange with so many older proposals. Where are the new proposals that make this strategy a reality?

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Leonid Yurkovskiy (SD)

Madam Speaker! It is not always our pleasure to be quite in agreement on such important issues, but when we today discuss the strategy on mental health and are also to make decisions, we still stand quite united. It is clearly a strength in this important work, even though the different parties have their own policies in the area otherwise. It is about life, which is a very good heading that reflects the strategy's holistic view on the issue of mental health.

Mental health is far from always a condition or, when it comes to mental ill-health, a condition that can be cured with just medicine; rather, it is often very many complicated pieces of life that can be the cause but also the solution when someone is suffering. Likewise, the ill-health itself can affect all parts of life. That is why it is a very good heading and a good starting point.

In addition to the starting point, this is also a strategy filled with concrete goals, which others have already accounted for, and it is followed by concrete policy intended to improve the situation in Sweden for those suffering from mental ill-health and also to prevent mental ill-health from arising to the extent that it does today.

Madam Speaker! When working with these types of products, it is very important to have goals that can be concretized and that one actually concretizes them. Who shall do what and with which resources? Therefore, the strategy is supplemented by the already mentioned action plan with approximately 50 concrete measures that will be implemented. It is obviously ambitious, but it is also realistic. Several of the points have already been started. It can involve concrete budget allocations that are very relevant, for example, shortening the queues to child and adolescent psychiatry, increasing resources for suicide prevention, and supporting meaningful employment for persons with mental disabilities.

It is also about knowledge syntheses regarding, for example, the mental health of the elderly, involuntary loneliness as a growing problem, and the increasingly relevant issue of the health effects of using digital media. Something that has become a reality and that the Sverigedemokraterna have pushed for a very long time is the reinstated national support line which is open around the clock and can be decisive for those who are suffering.

It is clear that the action plan contains both older, currently relevant and future proposals. But this is also not some kind of vanity project for the Tidö cooperation, but an action plan that is intended to give a clear overview of what is actually happening in the area and what is to happen.

Furthermore, Madam Speaker, each relevant authority shall also identify and address the specific issues concerning mental health that fall within the authority's area, which is an important feature of the strategy. Another important feature is that the relevant authorities must also follow up on the goals and report on what is further required to achieve them. There is thus an additional emphasis on concretization.

Madam Speaker! I also want to highlight some positive secondary effects that we can expect to get from this and which, among many other things, may be extra important for the Sverigedemokraterna.

One advantage that we Sweden Democrats see is the reduction of psychopharmaceuticals prescribed primarily to children and young people, but also generally. It is often said that more than three times as many children, approximately 50,000 children and young people, receive a prescription today compared to 15 years ago. That is clearly not sustainable.

It must absolutely not be seen as a substitute for other treatment just because it is faster, cheaper, or simpler. It must also not be used instead of making the changes that are actually required for a person to feel well and receive help.

Another question is mental illness, which also affects others. The worst kind can result in violence and murder. We have seen that even in Sweden. It must also be caught in good time, before it can cause harm. The investments in psychiatry are perhaps the obvious ones, but I am also thinking about society's ability to recognize the signals at different levels. That is why there is such an emphasis on just knowledge in the strategy.

Madam Speaker! This strategy is unique. I believe it can make a real difference. Previously, the holistic approach to mental health from public society has been missing, and the insight that it is not only the healthcare system that has the responsibility to manage this, but the entire society.

There are thousands of reasons why someone feels unwell. Some of them we simply cannot influence in this chamber, but it is truly encouraging that there is very much that we can do and that has not been done previously.

Social Minister Jakob Forssmed specifically clarified the holistic perspective linked to the authorities, using the Swedish Enforcement Authority (Kronofogdemyndigheten) as an example. We know that people who are over-indebted and end up with the Swedish Enforcement Authority run a greater risk of suffering from mental ill-health, and he then clarified that it was not because of the meeting with the Swedish Enforcement Authority itself, but because of the life situation.

The point here is that the authority in this case is given the responsibility to look at what measures they can take to prevent something from happening. That responsibility is placed on all relevant authorities. It is truly important, Madam Speaker.

In conclusion, I can state that it is a very ambitious strategy that will require a lot of work. But I believe it is worth making these efforts – as the headline says: It is about life.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Karin Rågsjö (V)

Madam Speaker! We also stand behind the letter. I would like to specifically thank Emma Henriksson, who has put this together.

But it is also about what one does with this notice. It is about politics. I believe in a society that holds together. In that case, one should not impoverish people. And I believe in a society that ensures children have it as good as possible. With a ticking unemployment rate, children risk having it worse. Inequality is spiraling in Sweden. It must not let society hold together. Nor will it increase mental health.

When it comes to mental health, it is time to lift the stones. Preventing suicide starts very early. It is about seeing nuances and listening.

Psychiatry is suffering. It is the area within healthcare that has received the least investment, and that has been the case for quite some time. Mental diagnoses must be equated with physical ones. That is not the case today. Very many fall through the cracks, both children and adults. There is a shortage of staff within psychiatry. We can see that with what is now happening in Östergötland. There, they have just cut back on psychiatry. It is a Moderater-led region, I can say.

This is also about the fact that if I come in with a mental state and am feeling very poorly mentally, I can be sent home. That would never happen if I came in with an incipient heart attack. Mental health must be equated with physical health.

The area is neglected. The focus within psychiatry often lies on short-term treatments today, and access to care is very uneven between the regions. Those who have money often go to a private therapist. It is not uncommon.

Our starting point is that preventive and early interventions need to be combined with adequate care that is accessible and equitable across the entire country. Therefore, there must be opportunities for psychological treatment for more people.

The Left Party's proposal means that individually tailored psychological treatment is offered within primary care through referral in order to eventually become part of the regions' regular operations. Only non-profit actors shall be able to be covered by the proposal. We have included this in our budget proposal.

Fundamentally, it is about equating the physical with the psychological and not just investing in pills. Socialstyrelsen's statistics from 2023 show that 1.2 million patients collected antidepressants. That is 11 percent of the population. That is not a good figure. The largest increase over the last five years is among children and young people. That is a major red flag.

Madam Speaker! This requires us to find more doors to open for children but also for adults, of course, with different failing mental states. Certainly, medication can help, but especially if one also receives other conditions and other tools. One should not just go home with their bottle, and then hope that it will get better. That does not work. Are the pharmacological treatments used instead of other treatment therapies due to a lack of resources or competence? That we can reflect on.

We also want to investigate how the medication of depression has developed over a ten-year period and how the medication has contributed to better mental health in the population. The prescription of psychopharmaceuticals, in particular anxiolytics and antidepressants, to children and young people has, as stated, increased significantly in Sweden. It is very worrying. There is no research in the field that says that this becomes better for the children. It is very shaky.

We believe that the government should conduct a review of the prescriptions to children and young people and ensure that the pharmacological treatments are not occurring due to a lack of resources within child and adolescent psychiatry or school health care. Is it pills instead of a functioning school or a conversation with a counselor? This development has been ongoing for a longer period with increased prescription of anxiety-reducing medications and a correlating increase in diagnosed depression and anxiety disorders. We simply must take a closer look at this.

The youth clinics are an important actor for the early detection of substance abuse and addiction as well as mental ill-health. It is a door that should be opened a little wider. The youth clinics have high credibility among young people and are a well-known institution. But the youth clinics should be upgraded. They are simply too different across the country.

School health is present in the schools and follows the students in their environment, from preschool to upper secondary school, to ensure that they are well and to support their development towards the goals of education. It is about having difficult conversations and following up on them. It shall be preventive and health-promoting, encompassing medical, psychological, psychosocial, and special pedagogical interventions.

But is that the case today? No, it is not. It often happens on a consultancy basis. For example, a freelance counselor can be called into the school when something acute has happened. That was not the intention. I thought that a counselor would be there all the time and be part of the team. Furthermore, the staff often have responsibility for far too many students. The possibility for support and help also varies, depending on which school one attends. It is like a lottery.

Vänsterpartiet wants to strengthen student health and review the organization of student health. We cannot just refer to BUP all the time. There must be other doors to open.

Through the government's bloodletting of the entire health and medical care system, children and young people who need hands-on support to varying degrees are also affected. To those of you who say that resources do not play any role, I want to say that I do consider that they do. Resources play a role.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Thomas Ragnarsson (M)

Madam Speaker! Today we are debating the report SoU7. It concerns life – national strategy in the area of mental health and suicide prevention. I would like to begin by moving for the approval of the committee's proposal for a decision.

Madam Speaker! As a Moderate, I am very pleased that this strategy is now in place, because precisely mental health has been a priority area for our party for a long time. I am also pleased that all other parties stand behind this strategy, which guarantees that it will become a steering document that permeates healthcare. The strength of the strategy is that it is linked to seven sub-goals with action plans for how the work is to be carried out.

Madam Speaker! Suffering from mental ill-health is both stigmatizing and marginalizing for the individual. People do not like to talk about their illness. Many perceive that the rest of society looks down on them. Unfortunately, there are attitudes in society that make one even more isolated in their ill-health – even within Swedish health and medical care, which further marginalizes. If there is a psychiatric problem in the background, somatic medicine is quick to link different symptoms to the psychiatric problem. Consequently, the symptoms are not always taken seriously. The suddenly occurring breathing problems are linked directly to previous anxiety problems, and thus basic examinations that would have directly shown that the patient has an acute heart attack are missed.

Madam Speaker! It is even worse for the group suffering from comorbidity where mental illness and substance abuse are present. Here, it is even easier to point to causes of symptoms and problems without conducting the examinations that are normally seen to be carried out when someone seeks help for a specific symptom picture. For that very reason, this is a very important strategy that can become the basis for better patient care throughout the entire care chain.

Another reform, which will be debated later today, is the introduction of the leisure card (fritidskortet). The connection between physical and mental well-being is well-documented. Creating the conditions for everyone to be able to participate in physical and cultural experiences will hopefully mean that a larger proportion of our children and young people experience better health in all areas.

Madam Speaker! Every year, a number of people in our country choose to end their lives. Every such incident is a tragedy for the individual and for their relatives and friends. It is also a failure for society. I am aware that it is extremely difficult to predict and prevent it from happening. In June 2008, the bill A renewed public health policy was adopted, and it contains a section on suicide prevention work with an accompanying action program. This work has not achieved its purpose to a sufficient extent, and therefore it is good that we now further adjust this area to hit the mark more accurately.

Madam Speaker! Mental illness can affect anyone. I believe everyone here wants to be sure that there is a functioning care chain that takes care of us if this were to happen, that cooperation between activities within health and medical care is functioning and that other authorities that are or can become involved are part of this care chain.

Not infrequently, the police are the authority that meets the patient for the first time, and in that case, regulations and contact routes must be established for the smoothest handling possible. We in the health and medical care sector are always responsible for these patients. It is fundamentally not the police's job to handle this type of case if there are no major risks of violence, but there is clear legislation for how this should be handled.

A new phenomenon that has emerged in recent years is psychiatric ambulances. They have meant a great deal for the patient group. But with the geography and the population figures we have in different parts of the country, we must build the organization based on the existing conditions, which means that we will not have access to this specialist expertise in all parts of Sweden. It would be unreasonable both in terms of marginal utility and from a purely economic perspective. We can, however, achieve a lot with better cooperation between all of society's resources, and a key function in society is primary care.

Madam Speaker! Suicide should obviously not happen at all. In the debate, it is often spoken of as if young girls were overrepresented in the statistics. But that is not the case, rather it is lonely older men who are overrepresented. Here one sees the importance of social contacts, which we all in society can contribute to. If you have a neighbor who seems very lonely, it is no great sacrifice to offer a cup of coffee or just talk a little over the fence. Who knows – it might save a life.

(Applause)

In this speech, Johan Hultberg and Jesper Skalberg Karlsson (both M) agreed.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Christofer Bergenblock (C)

Madam Speaker! During 2023, more than 1,300 people died as a result of suicide in Sweden. Every lost life is a tragedy for the individual, but it is also a trauma for those left behind with questions about what went wrong and what could have been done differently: family members, friends, classmates, colleagues, and other people in the person's surroundings. Every life counts, and every suicide is a failure for society.

Therefore, it is very important to work in a structured manner to counteract mental ill-health and prevent self-destructiveness and suicide. This is also the very purpose of the strategy that we are debating now and will adopt later today, and whose vision is that no one should have to end up in such a vulnerable situation that suicide is perceived to be the only way out.

We in the Center Party welcome the new strategy, because mental health, not least among children and young people, is an area that we have focused on and highlighted for a very long time. For that reason, we have submitted a number of proposals in the Riksdag to strengthen preventive work, focus on particularly vulnerable target groups, strengthen competence within the area, strengthen support for relatives, and increase cooperation with civil society.

Taking a comprehensive grip on mental health in general and suicide issues in particular has been a priority for us. We therefore view this new strategy very positively. Looking at the whole, we are satisfied with both the framework and the content. We therefore raise no follow-up motions in the area. I would still like to make a few points.

On an overall level, Madam Speaker, we believe that it is good that the strategy has a cross-sectoral approach and a long-term perspective. The work with these issues requires stability and long-term thinking. Therefore, it is good that the strategy extends over a period of ten years. At the same time, there is an inherent danger that after a few years, one might become complacent and not carry out the work of change that will likely be needed throughout the entire period. This is, of course, something that we will monitor.

Furthermore, we view the strategy's division into the four overarching target areas and the seven sub-areas with priorities positively. The overarching areas themselves indicate the direction for the work: to improve mental health and reduce the number of lives lost to suicide. Under the seven sub-areas, what needs to be done for us to reach there is specified.

One of the areas highlighted concerns investing in children and young people for good mental health throughout life. This is an area that is particularly important because mental ill-health that develops in childhood risks remaining for the rest of life. At the same time, we know that many children and young people also live in a particularly vulnerable situation where they do not always know where to turn if they feel unwell. We have also seen how self-harming behaviors and suicide have been triggered and encouraged via forums on the internet.

In the preventive work, preschool and school play an important role, as do various actors in civil society, such as study associations, community life, and religious communities. Furthermore, from the Center Party's side, we have for a very long time highlighted how important it is to have rapid access to child and adolescent psychiatry to receive professional help in connection with mental ill-health. There is much left to do there.

Another area highlighted in the strategy concerns developing the approach of representatives of public activities who encounter individuals with an increased risk of mental ill-health or suicide. Experience shows that certain authorities come into contact with people who may be suicidal more often than others, which makes it extra important for them to work proactively with issues regarding the approach. This could, for example, involve staff at the municipality's social services office or at the County Administrative Boards. It could be animal welfare officers or staff at the Enforcement Authority.

Being denied financial assistance, having children taken into care, losing one's animals, or having property foreclosed can naturally be extremely dramatic in an individual's life, but it should not have to lead to someone attempting to take their own life. Therefore, it is also important to direct educational efforts specifically towards the professional groups who encounter these individuals and can work preventatively and try to facilitate contacts to healthcare.

Another area that Centerpartiet has highlighted on several occasions is the need to develop support for survivors. Experience shows that the situation one ends up in with unanswered questions, reflections on whether one could have done something differently, and thoughts regarding the loneliness one has been thrust into increases the risk of poor mental health. Consequently, the risk of suicide also increases among next of kin.

Usually, support has only been directed to the immediate family, but now that group is being expanded slightly in the strategy, which is very good. Support must, in fact, also be offered to more peripheral friends, for example classmates or a slightly broader circle of friends. Experience shows that people even outside the very closest circle can be very strongly affected by a suicide with an increased risk of suicide as a consequence.

Madam Speaker! In summary, the Centre Party views the new national strategy regarding mental health and suicide prevention very positively. It constitutes an important step on the way towards a society where good and equal mental health is promoted. It is a society where poor mental health can be prevented and where no one experiences that suicide is the only way out – a society where every life counts.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Jakob Olofsgård (L)

Madam Speaker! As members of this chamber, we are from time to time faced with the thought: Why did we engage in politics? What was our purpose? With what motivation did we enter this mission?

During the last election, my message was written on my small white electric car, my message to all the people and voters I have met throughout my life. There it stood in large letters: ”FOR EVERY CHILD.”

In my previous role in parish service, I have spent far too many hours in the psychiatric emergency ward together with young people struggling with mental ill-health and suicidal thoughts – people who actually want to live but do not have the strength to fight. In those situations, it is important that one can be there as support in conversation and lead them to the right care and help. It was for them that I wrote "for every child".

For me, it is important with a liberal approach that puts the individual's freedom and empowerment at the center. Mental health is a fundamental prerequisite for people to be able to live life throughout their lives. We in politics need to provide the right conditions so that everyone can live life throughout their lives, because it is about life.

I am convinced that we all in this chamber have someone close to us who, in one way or another, is struggling with mental ill-health, as it is one of the great diseases of our time. Therefore, it gives hope that we in all parties here in the Swedish Riksdag stand behind the fact that a national strategy is needed for the period 2025–2034 for every child, yes, for everyone. There are, of course, different thoughts on exactly how this should be implemented, and we shall return to those.

But the most important thing is not us in this chamber, but those who today need these preventive measures to live with good mental health. The vision for the strategy is to promote this good and equal mental health where truly no one should end up thinking that the only way out is to end their own life.

The four overarching goals point out a direction in the shifts we need to make and which are important. The goals are: improved mental health for the entire population, fewer lives lost to suicide, reduced manageable differences in mental health, and reduced negative consequences due to psychiatric conditions.

The four goals are followed up by seven sub-goals. I particularly want to highlight sub-goal 2, increased investments in children and young people for good mental health throughout life.

Madam Speaker! Among the most important things is that every child should have a secure upbringing. When we discover that something is not as it should be, we need to work immediately with early interventions. It is in preschool that we as a society can truly see how it will go for the children and the inequalities that exist. It is there that we can start the good preventive work in good time for good mental health.

But even outside of school hours, children need a meaningful leisure time. Here, our entire civil society becomes an important pillar of society, and that gives me hope. It is about every football coach who sees every youth, about every scout leader who succeeds in finding what every youth truly thinks is fun to do, and about every church opening its doors, where all children can come in and be exactly as they are. Civil society's open embrace gives me hope today, great hope.

Madam Speaker! Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of visiting the Salvation Army's work, Vårsol, in my home city of Jönköping. It is a conversation center for children and young people who are not doing well. They also provide support to young people who have been sexually exposed online. There, I got to sit down and have a coffee with a wonderful group of social workers who showed a great heart for every child they met. In their own eyes, they perhaps did not see themselves as particularly remarkable, but in my eyes, they were the heroes of society. They met children whose parents abuse substances. They met children whose parents had passed away. They met children who had a close relative who had been deprived of liberty, children who had been sexually exploited online, and children who live in families with violence.

These people, the curators, are nothing less than our society's heroes. Their activities, they said, were built largely on an idea-driven public partnership – IOP, as it is called – together with the region.

We act in this chamber. The appropriations are then conveyed to civil society and to these heroes. They actually reach out to the children who need help. It gives hope – hope for a national strategy where the Public Health Agency and the National Board of Health and Welfare shall coordinate and follow up, and where our regions and municipalities shall work together with civil society. They shall cooperate with the government-appointed national coordinator for suicide prevention work.

Madam Speaker! In the midst of the darkness and in the valley of death's shadow that a person can find themselves in, there is a way out, a light in the darkness and a light at the other end of the tunnel. Many receive just the help they need, but more need to be there with their helping hands. That is what this national strategy must land in.

Madam Speaker! I challenge all of us in this chamber, including myself, to perhaps today pick up the phone or go to that person and ask the question that sometimes it might be difficult to ask, namely "How are you today?" and then also be prepared for the answer.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Nils Seye Larsen (MP)

Madam Speaker! I remember when I attended a seminar here in the Riksdag together with representatives from the Jägareförbundet. They spoke about their purposeful work with suicide prevention. They had, in fact, seen that there was a large overrepresentation of their members among those who had chosen to end their lives. They realized that hunting was one of the few social contexts that a good number of their members had. They then began to work proactively with exactly that which needs to be done more in our society: daring to ask and daring to talk about how we are doing.

They began to collaborate with regions and some other organizations to try to provide conversation support in time to prevent people in their loneliness from choosing to end their lives.

That matter of daring to ask and daring to talk about how we feel also comes back to when I was part of a project under the County Administrative Board in Västerbotten County. We, who were responsible for the public health work in the municipalities around Västerbotten, traveled up to Bodö together and got to follow their very successful work. They worked purposefully – it concerned people throughout their lives, from children and young people – with doing precisely the same thing: actively daring to ask and daring to talk as well as working suicidally preventatively.

It is not just about how we treat people in our society. It is also about how we can plan our society and prevent suicide – many times it actually happens unplanned and in the heat of the moment. This is something that we need to get better at.

We are very pleased that this national strategy is being presented. Overall, it is a good strategy with a high level of ambition and with very clear concrete goals and sub-goals. There is a holistic perspective, which was needed. We see the interaction to promote mental health – an interaction between preschool, school, social services, healthcare, psychiatry, and civil society and its active role.

We in Miljöpartiet naturally welcome the strategy. But we have written a specific statement, because there are certain things we want to highlight.

What worries us is that there are missing resources to be able to work in a purposeful and concrete manner based on this strategy. It is about the municipalities' conditions to work. Our budget could have strengthened the economic conditions for them. Then they could have worked more proactively in our preschools and schools, in social services, in culture and in leisure activities. But it is also about investments in healthcare. In our budget motion and also in our amendment motion, we have presented our investment when it comes to child and adolescent psychiatry. It is about strengthening the support when it comes to the transition from child and adolescent psychiatry to adult psychiatry. Much needs to be done to improve the support when it comes to psychiatry.

Another aspect that I want to highlight is, of course, the one that our Social Democratic member raised here earlier. It says very much in this strategy that equal societies create better conditions for working with mental health and well-being in our society. It is sad to see how our society is becoming increasingly unequal and divided. Unfortunately, that puts a spoke in the wheel of the promotional and preventive work when it comes to mental health.

It is good that the strategy specifically identifies different groups that have greater problems with mental ill-health. But one of the groups we are missing in the strategy is trans people. We have seen – the Public Health Agency has noted this – that 40 percent of young trans people have attempted to take their own lives at some point. This is something that we would like to have included in this strategy.

Since then, it is incredibly important with an equality and gender perspective. We spoke with Jägareförbundet, and some of the members here in the room have pointed out that there is a very strong overrepresentation of older men when it comes to completed suicides. Unfortunately, it is the case that in our Scandinavian society, with the masculine norms that exist, we can be very bad at actually talking to each other about how we feel. There is a great involuntary loneliness that needs to be worked on.

Something else is, of course, that we see there is an overrepresentation of young girls and women when it comes to mental ill-health. It is something that we need to work on.

We must, therefore, have an equality and gender perspective in order to be able to work actively to promote better mental health.

In conclusion: It is in an open, tolerant and inclusive society that we can seriously create the conditions to work for better mental health for all groups in society, including our minorities, where we see an increased problem with mental ill-health.

(Applause)

In this speech, Mats Berglund (MP) agreed.

It is about life – national strategy in the area of mental health and suicide prevention

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(Decisions were made under § 12.)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)