Today the Government has announced
its plans to continue to invest £70 million into psychological therapies
designed to treat common mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.
Since 2007, the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) scheme has
focused on increasing access to talking treatment Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
(CBT).
Speaking on behalf of the We Need to
Talk Coalition, which campaigns on talking therapies provision, Paul Farmer Chief Executive of Mind
said:
“Mental health
services have long been an easy target when budgets are slashed, and we are
delighted that the new Government will continue plans to invest in crucial
talking treatments.
“However, CBT is
just one of a host of therapies that can be prescribed for mental health
problems, and many people are still stuck on waiting lists struggling to access
other therapies that are absolutely fundamental to mental health care, such as
counselling. Basic mental health treatments are still suffering the knock on
effects of a long legacy of neglect, and funding for talking treatments need to
embrace the full range of therapies that can treat all kinds of mental health
problems.
“The new
Government should use this as an opportunity to expand IAPT to include the full
spectrum of treatment that huge numbers of people need urgently, and many are
currently kept waiting for.”
ENDS
Notes to
editors
The We Need To Talk campaign is
supported by The British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive
Psychotherapies, British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy, The
British Psychoanalytic Council, The British Psychological Society, The Mental
Health Foundation, Mind, The New Savoy Partnership, Rethink, The Royal College
of General Practitioners, The Royal College of Psychiatrists, Sainsbury Centre
for Mental Health and Young Minds. Find out more at:www.weneedtotalk.org.uk
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