View this email in your browser

Why mental health must be top of the agenda this election

Dear friend,

With a General Election around the corner, we’re calling on all parliamentary candidates to stand up for social justice in mental health and champion the policies that will make a real difference to the nation’s wellbeing.

This month we published a new briefing exploring how a mental health policy test could help guide decision making and support better mental health.

From transport and housing to social security and the environment, each government decision will have a negative or positive effect on people’s mental health. Our briefing explores local examples of how policy testing has been used to make mental health everyone’s concern. It also sets out how a mental health policy test could have been used to prevent the implementation of harmful policies, like reducing access to social security, and improved the Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Putting mental health at the heart of policy making would have knock-on benefits for the whole of society, like reducing poverty and improving physical health. So we need all political parties to make mental health a top priority in their manifesto commitments this election.

We’ll be pushing for whoever forms the next government to put in place a robust mental health policy test, alongside a national mental health plan and a Mental Health Commissioner, to drive real and lasting change which supports better mental health for all.

Andy Bell, Chief Executive

If you’ve found this email useful, please consider making a donation towards our work. We can’t continue the fight for equality in mental health without your support.