The Government has launched a 12 week consultation process, until July 7th, in order to gather opinions on its proposed mental health plan for the next decade.
This is a fantastic opportunity for professionals working in employee wellbeing, across all industries, to put forward their expert views on shaping mental health provision as we emerge from, and deal with the effects of the pandemic.
The intention behind the government-led discussion is to ‘level up’ mental health with physical health, and equalise outcomes and support for all the UK population.
Specific subjects that the government is seeking input on include:
- how to improve people’s mental wellbeing (chapter 1)
- how to prevent people experiencing mental ill-health (chapter 2)
- how to help people get support at the earliest stage (chapter 3)
- how to improve treatment for mental ill-health (chapter 4)
- how to make sure people with a mental health condition live well (chapter 5)
- how to best support people in mental health crisis (chapter 6)
More information on the consultation process is given here. To ensure your voice, and others’ expertise in your organisation, are shared, you can contribute to this consultation and the debate process here. Contributing to this survey will only take around 15-30 minutes of your time.
How this compares to the U.S.
Across the pond, President Biden is also focusing his attention on achieving parity between physical and mental health support, which he outlined in his recent State of the Union address.
Commentators such as Forbes are describing this as “a tremendous step forward”, citing The White House’s launch of its new national strategy on mental health, which it is currently briefing organisations about.
One area the US Government is particularly flagging up, in order to achieve this parity, is employers’ existing efforts to provide resources to support employees needing mental health support. The White House plans to build on this commitment to those grappling with mental health challenges by creating and promoting a peer specialist certification programme.
