02.03.11
Clinicians welcome new mental health strategy
he British Psychological Society (BPS) has welcomed the Government’s new emphasis on mental health and the treatment strategies being suggested.
The organisation said it particularly welcomed the emphasis on public health, the focus on recovery and resilience, and the importance of psychosocial perspectives and the benefits of evidence-based psychological therapies.
Professor Peter Kinderman, chairman of the BPS Division of Clinical Psychology, called it “a welcome step towards the kind of mental health service that psychologists have been calling for over many years”.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said mental health problems should be given the same priority as physical problems and called for more to be done to end discrimination and stigma. The focus is on children’s counselling and a huge new investment in talking therapies.
Prof Kinderman said: “It stresses the importance of seeing people as human beings – people who experience distress and occasionally need help as we all do from time to time, but as real people with real lives. Psychosocial approaches are increasingly recognised as ‘gold-standard’ and we welcome the emphasis on a psychological approach in Government policies.”
He, like many other experts, warned of the potential effects of the cuts on community services currently beneficial to people with or at risk of developing mental health problems.
Dr John Hanna, policy director of the BPS Division of Clinical Psychology, called the No Health Without Mental Health programme a “robust response” by the Government to a pressing need.
He added: “This initiative must be personalised, inclusive and fair, clinically effective and, over time, economical, lowering overall costs to the NHS. Psychologists are more than ready to take these initiatives forwards; to co-ordinate and lead, to train and supervise our psychological therapist colleagues, to research new approaches and to undertake the most complex and risky clinical work in these crucially important and long-overlooked sectors.”
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