In this blog, we're exploring why prevention relies on England’s Mental Health Strategy being truly cross-government
Location: United Kingdom
Prevention is at the heart of everything we do at the Mental Health Foundation. Above all else, we believe that it is more effective – as individuals, and for society – if we put in place the policies and practices that can stop poor mental health before it takes hold.
Solely treating our way out of the mental health crisis is impossible. It’s clearer than ever that prevention is our best option. After all, if a bucket’s being filled faster than you can empty it, you’re never going to get rid of the water.
This is why it’s so welcome that the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, seems passionate about preventative action. And with the publication of the Fonagy review, which confirms a much greater focus on prevention is needed, the government now knows for a fact that action on prevention needs to be their priority.
We’re calling for cross-government mental health prevention
The Mental Health Strategy for England, confirmed by the PM to be coming before the end of 2026, provides the best possible opportunity to embed prevention as national policy.
But to drive real change, the Strategy cannot just be endorsed and implemented by the Department for Health and Social Care. It must be embedded across the entire government. While it was originally announced as a cross-government plan, we are still waiting to see evidence that it will be truly cross government.
Why do we need a cross-governmental approach to prevention?
This means every Ministry, Department and arms-length-body in Whitehall, from Education, to Work and Pensions, to Justice must sign up to integrating mental health in their policymaking efforts. The reason for this is simple: mental health is linked into every part of our society, and the tools to put in place the building blocks of good mental health are split across various departments.
For example, access to decent housing, protection from bullying, and a decent income are all vital to nurturing good mental health. And these areas are split across the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Department for Education, and the Department for Work and Pensions.
What’s at risk for our mental health?
Without each of those departments buying into the importance of prevention of poor mental health, the policies and practices needed are much less likely to happen. And decisions may go ahead without any consideration of whether they could harm mental health.
The impact of not considering mental health are clear. Since the beginning of the banking crisis in 2007, many of the social determinants that drive poor mental health have worsened – partly due to the direct choices of successive governments. We have seen cuts to public services, increased poverty, and more recently the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. each of these had responses which failed to consider the mental health impact of their decisions. It’s no coincidence that since 2008, rates of poor mental health have increased drastically.
How can we achieve a cross-government approach to mental health?
We think the best way to achieve a cross-governmental approach to mental health would be the implementation of a mental health and wellbeing assessment tool across government. This would be similar to the tool committed to under the previous government’s interim Major Conditions Strategy. This is currently being trialled by the Department for Health and Social Care, allowing all government policies to be assessed for how they will impact people living with major health conditions.
Doing the same for mental health would be a game changer. If an assessment tool were properly implemented, it would guarantee that mental health is at the forefront of all policy discussions. Any decision taken by government seeking to achieve its objectives would then avoid unintentionally worsening poor mental health.
By adopting this approach, the responsibility to develop mentally healthy policy would be on all government departments. Secretaries of State will have to explain their thinking if a policy is harmful to mental health. The Cabinet Secretary will have an overall duty to guarantee this as a central part of government operations. And mental health will become something that is an everyday consideration – embedding prevention in the heart of government.
And so, while the upcoming Mental Health Strategy is a rare opportunity to change the direction of the nation's mental health, its success will not be measured by the number of commitments it contains or the ambition of its language. It will be measured by whether it changes how government makes decisions every day for the improvement of our mental health.
Make it truly cross-government, and it will be revolutionary.