There are probably some difficult and challenging conversations to be had, and some of those need to be with the public, but often they need to be with different parts of the state which currently have conflicting interests and create larger problems.
For example - we have a unspoken public health emergency in this country around neurodiversity. In most cases, in order to access even the most basic adjustments at work or in education, or even the most low level intervention or support from social care/ NHS/ Third sector you usually require a diagnosis. MH services currently cannot and do not have the capacity to offer a timely diagnosis to the amount of people asking for one (round my way about in some areas 70% of referrals into MH services are for ADHD assessment). One sensible way around this would be to just offer most adjustments and support to people who seem like they need it and sod the diagnosis but that's an anathema to how our means testing/ hoop jumping / gate keeping institutional culture works.
Similarly (and I am not talking about everyone - many people do require specialist treatment) if we had a society in which most people had a secure home, enough money to meet their basic needs, felt integrated into a community, and had access to leisure and exercise, far fewer people would be mental health services for what we'd badge as mild-moderate support (often started by very reasonable distress at their cicrumstances) and we could target our support to people with acute and moderate - severe need more effectively.
I'm not saying MH services aren't failing. But badging societal pain, for want of a better phrase, as MH and then sending everything that way will never work, but looking more broadly at how we solve things is much harder, and arguably neoliberal governments don't want to do that thinking. Far easier to blame those nurses promoted beyond their ability trying to manage this mess (this is intended to be lighthearted, given what I do for a living, and not intended to continue any interpersonal beef on the thread).