How local councils can support better mental health for all

Andy Bell

Interim Chief Executive

Dear friends,

This month at Centre for Mental Health we’ve been delighted to launch our new Mentally Healthier Councils Network. Building on our ten years of working with elected member champions in councils, we’re extending our support to all people working in local authorities.

We’ve also published an updated manifesto for mental health in local government ahead of this year’s local elections in England. Please do ask your council candidates if they’ll commit to champion mental health with our 18 key actions.

Also in March we hosted the second event in our Festival of Ideas, focusing on racial justice and mental health. You can catch up on that discussion and please do join us for the next three as we continue to develop new and sustainable ideas to address the Five Giants for Mental Health.

Thanks for keeping up-to-date with our work, I hope it is helpful to you and please let us know if there's anything else you’d like to hear from us about.

Mentally healthier council areas

This briefing sets out how local councils can improve people's mental health by implementing 18 evidence-based policies in four key areas:

Reducing poverty
Improving the environment
Supporting the best start in life
Bettering access to quality services.

From paying the Living Wage to providing affordable housing, and from funding early support hubs to investing in substance misuse services, we’re calling on all 2023 local election candidates to champion mental health by committing to the policies that would make the biggest difference.

To support people working in local government to champion mental health, we’ve set up a new Mentally Healthier Councils Network.

If you work for your local council, sign up to receive updates of how you can create better mental health in your community.

Watch the video below to hear more about how councils can create better mental health at a local level.

How local councils can support better mental health for all

The second of our Festival of Ideas events explores the racial injustices and inequalities that fuel poor mental health and persist in mental health services, worsening access and outcomes for people from racialised communities.

Our speakers shared their experiences of working to improve mental health support for people from racialised communities and put forward ideas of how to truly advance racial justice in mental health.

Festival of Ideas: Advancing Racial Justice in Mental Health

Emma Bailey and Hannah Moore from Equally Well UK join Thea to explain how this campaign is working to improve physical health and tackle the unacceptable life expectancy gap for people with severe mental illness.