Honorary award for mental health champion Jacqui Dyer

A HUDDERSFIELD woman whose experiences of coping with mental illness in her own family led her to become a major catalyst for improvements in mental health care has been honoured by her home-town university.

Jacqui Dyer has been based in London since 1989 and is a Labour councillor in Lambeth, but she expressed pride in her Huddersfield roots when she returned to accept an Honorary Doctorate of the University, bestowed for her services to mental health care.

And before the ceremony, she discovered that she had attended the same junior and secondary schools in Deighton as the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bob Cryan.

“That in itself is an inspiration for me,” said Jacqui Dyer when she addressed students at the ceremony.  “It says that no matter where you come from, no matter what your life journey – especially if you have challenges that often seem so insurmountable – you can achieve a vision not just for yourself but for others.”

An oration that outlined Jacqui Dyer’s life and achievements was delivered by Dr Joanne Garside, who is Director of Health Partnerships within the University’s School of Human and Health Sciences.

“Strongly influencing many aspects of her work is her experience as a service user and carer.  Her brother had a mental illness and at times experienced significant issues accessing appropriate mental health services,” said Dr Garside.

The absence of psychological therapies for Jacqui’s brother was a driving force for her involvement on the Mental Health Taskforce for which she is the vice chair and is now leading vital developments.

“She is now helping to shape recommendations through the co-creation of the Mental Health Five Year Forward View and along with the NHS mandate, lays out a series of recommendations which truly represents the tens of thousands of voices who spoke out about their priorities for change in mental health,” continued Dr Garside.

“This work is transforming mental health care across the NHS and as a result one million more children, young people and adults of all ages experiencing mental health problems will benefit from access to high quality care.”

Dr Garside said that Jacqui has provided an amazing legacy in honour of her late brother, adding that he “sadly died before his time, and may have been here today if the recommendations of the report were in place years ago”. 

When she spoke, Jacqui Dyer said that the adversities that she had faced meant she had to dig deep to try and get things improved.  Now, she was in a position to influence other countries around mental health, guided by principles that she was sure were shared by the University of Huddersfield.

“Let us make sure that internationally everybody knows what Huddersfield can deliver!” she concluded.