Category: Mental Health

National workforce plan for Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs)

Department of Health and Social Care, November 2019

Understanding the role of AMHPs in mental health services to help with recruitment and retention of the role in local areas. This document is a resource for agencies wishing to develop their AMHP services and aims to explain the role of AMHPs in mental health services. It contains a summary of all the current guidance. It is for local authorities, directors of adult and children’s social care, NHS mental health trusts, and integrated care system workforce leads.

Click here to view the full report.

Children and young people’s mental health: prevention evidence: Summary report and outputs from a review of evidence for universal approaches to improving children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

Public Health England, October 2019

This series of reports summarises the evidence for the effectiveness of universal approaches to improving children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.  The documents are intended for strategic and operational leads, working on children and young people’s mental health.  The report of the findings of a Special Interest Group summarises the approach, findings and recommendations.

Click here to access the reports.

Social return on investment analysis of the health and wellbeing impacts of Wildlife Trust programmes

The Wildlife Trust, October 2019

This report finds that prescribing contact with nature for people who have low levels of mental wellbeing is excellent value for money by improving people’s health and wellbeing. Researchers at Leeds Beckett University analysed the social value of Wildlife Trusts’ nature conservation projects which offer outdoor volunteering opportunities and programmes that support people experiencing problems such as anxiety, stress or mild depression. The report draws on the conclusions of three years research which found that people participating in both sorts of outdoor nature conservation activities felt significantly better, both emotionally and physically, as a result.

Click here to view the full report.

Looking after your self-ie: A guide to finding your balance on and offline

Royal Society for Public Health, October 2019

The Royal Society for Public Health has developed a free online course which aims to help social media users to build a meaningful, more balanced relationship with platforms. The course focusses on awareness-raising; encouraging meaningful use by educating users on the potential harms and benefits of social media. It provides practical guidance and useful tips to support users to practice self-care on and offline.

Click here to access the resource.

Out of sight, out of mind: Bereaved parents falling through the gaps in mental health care

Sands, the Miscarriage Association, the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust, ARC and Babyloss.com, October 2019

Report from Sands, the Miscarriage Association, the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust, ARC and Babyloss.com calling on Governments across the UK to take action to ensure that all parents who experience pregnancy and baby loss and need specialist psychological support can access it, at a time and place that is right for them, free of charge, wherever they live. Information gathered by the Baby Loss Awareness Alliance shows that there is a clear need for specialist psychological support for this group. However, across the UK provision is too often unavailable, inaccessible or inappropriate. Too many people who experience a psychiatric illness after their loss do not receive the support they need. The negative impact individuals experience if they do not get the right support is vast. It affects all aspects of people’s lives including future pregnancies, personal relationships, physical health and employment. The repercussions are felt across wider society, costing the NHS more in the long run. There are pockets of good practice emerging across the UK, showing that bereaved parents can receive excellent specialist psychological support if the need is recognised and steps are taken to meet it. We must act to learn from this good practice and develop a shared understanding of what needs to be done, so that all bereaved parents requiring specialist psychological support get the help they need.

Click here to view the full report.

The community mental health framework for adults and older adults

NHS England and NHS Improvement, September 2019

The Community Mental Health Framework describes how the Long Term Plan’s vision for a place-based community mental health model can be realised, and how community services should modernise to offer whole-person, whole-population health approaches, aligned with the new Primary Care Networks.

Click here to view the full report.

Policy briefing: social care funding and mental health

Centre for Mental Health, September 2019

Centre for Mental Health briefing exploring what a fair and sustainable funding settlement for social care needs to look like in order to deliver parity of esteem for mental health and sufficient funding to support people of working age as well as those in later life. It reviews the current funding and provision of mental health social work for people of working age in England. It finds that mental health social work has a vital role in helping people to live independently and to secure their rights and dignity. A successful funding settlement for social care must begin with a recognition that a significant proportion of adult social care supports people of working age: it is not just for those in later life. Social services have specific responsibilities in relation to mental health, as they do for people with learning disabilities and other care needs, at all stages of life.

Click here to view the full report.

Closer links between police and health services can improve experiences for people in mental health crisis

NIHR Signal, August 2019

New models are emerging of mental health staff working with police. This NIHR-funded review found limited UK-relevant evidence of mixed quality. Studies showed different models in use, from police and mental health staff responding to incidents together to health staff in police control rooms providing support and advice. There was little evidence on which approaches work best, but some research suggested a reduction in formal detentions although there were few outcome data reported. Research shows potential for improving health outcomes for individuals in crisis by ensuring they are diverted to appropriate services, and in helping direct the appropriate use of police and NHS resources.

Click here to view the full report.

Towards mental health equality: a manifesto for the next Prime Minister –

The Mental Health Policy Group, July 2019

This manifesto sets out five areas that the next Prime Minister must address in order to improve the lives of people with mental health problems and promote the mental health of the nation. By addressing these areas, the new Prime Minister will lead the way towards mental health equality and bring us closer to the ambition of a fair deal for mental health.

  • 1. Take action to prevent mental illness
  • 2. Create a cross-government plan for mental health and establish a ‘mental health in all policies’ approach across government
  • 3. Reform the Mental Health Act
  • 4. Ensure everyone can access the right mental health support, in the right place, at the right time
  • 5. Build a mental health workforce fit for the future

Click here to view the document.