Preventing poor mental health

Mental health outcomes in the UK are worsening, with inequalities driving a disproportionate burden of mental ill health. Despite this, prevention remains under developed, under resourced and poorly understood. Greater public understanding is needed that mental health problems can be prevented and mitigated, alongside a more sophisticated and adequately-funded public mental health system. By strengthening prevention as a core pillar of mental health strategy, people can be better supported before problems emerge or while they are still in their early stages. 

Prevention can help all of us, whether we currently have good mental health or not. There are three key types of prevention:

1. Primary prevention. This focuses on stopping people from developing mental health problems and promoting good mental health for all. This includes education and resources to help people understand and support their own mental health, such as the publications we produce, and our annual awareness-raising campaign, Mental Health Awareness Week.
2. Secondary prevention. This focuses on supporting people who are more likely to develop mental health problems, either because of characteristics they were born with or experiences they have had. It includes people who have experienced trauma, people with long-term physical health conditions, people from racialised and minoritised communities and victims of hate crimes.
3. Tertiary prevention. This helps people with mental ill health stay well and have a good quality of life. It aims to reduce people’s symptoms, empower them to manage their well-being and reduce the risk of relapse.
    

Prevention is at the heart of all of our work at the Mental Health Foundation. We believe that we can prevent mental health problems before they take root, tackling the causes instead of waiting to treat the symptoms.

Unfortunately, the UK's health and care system is currently geared towards late intervention and crisis management. This model of waiting for people to develop mental health problems and then seeking to treat them is an ineffective way of improving the population’s mental health. Instead, we must reorientate national and local systems towards prevention. We do this through:

• Strengthening the evidence base – conducting research to support preventive approaches to mental health, including what works, economic modelling, international comparisons and sharing of best practice between UK nations and local health systems.
• Advocating for public mental health infrastructure – calling for dedicated budget lines, implementation of cross-government mental health plans, and refreshed Prevention Concordat/Alliance.
• Shifting public attitudes and tackling stigma – carrying out primary research on public perceptions of prevention and public attitudes about stigma; harnessing the arts, lived‑experience research, human stories, and influencer insights.
• Increasing mental health literacy – through hosting Mental Health Awareness Week and by creating evidence-based content to enable people to protect their mental health and that of those around them, including for specific audiences aligned to our other strategic goals.