Our response to the Government’s mental health strategy consultation calls for earlier intervention, greater choice and access to therapy, while highlighting how our members are an underutilised workforce.

The Department for Health and Social Care’s call for evidence was launched in May to help inform the upcoming cross-government 10-year strategy.

The strategy will cover NHS and Government-funded mental health services in England.

Our responses to the call for evidence’s questions have been informed by research, member surveys and experience and insight from across the profession.

Martin Bell, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, said: “This strategy must ensure that counselling makes a difference in more people’s lives – increasing access to therapy, expanding choice, and addressing the other barriers and challenges people currently face when they’re in need of mental health support.

“The call for evidence is an important opportunity for us to highlight the need for a greater focus on early intervention and shares the evidence that counselling changes lives. It’s drawn on research and our members’ experiences and expertise.

“We’ve stressed how the skills, capacity and expertise of our members are woefully underutilised by many services and settings – and how counsellors and psychotherapists have the capacity to take on more work within the NHS and other settings to help improve the mental health of the nation.

“We’ll continue to work with policymakers, respond to consultations, and put our points across to the Government to increase access to therapy, improved support for those in need, and for more paid employment opportunities for our members.”

Among the points we’ve highlighted in our response are:

Neighbourhood Health Services

  • The Government’s Neighbourhood Health Services approach must prioritise mental health and children and young people’s support – or else it risks exacerbating the postcode lottery for mental health support and worsening children and young people’s experiences.

Therapists are under-used in the NHS

  • Accessible counselling and psychotherapy support must be included within Neighbourhood Health Services. This can be delivered by using the undervalued and underutilised counselling workforce. We estimate there are 100,000 hours per week of therapeutic time available from trained counsellors and psychotherapists who want to work in the NHS.

Early intervention

  • We support the six 24/7 Neighbourhood Mental Health Centre pilots which bring together expertise to provide accessible, person-centred care. But we want a greater focus on early intervention and a wider range of therapeutic approaches involved.

More psychologically informed

  • The NHS must be more psychologically informed – with counsellors and psychotherapists working alongside other psychological professionals across physical and mental health services.

Community-based services

  • Community-based counselling services remove barriers, offer greater choice and flexibility than available on the NHS. But the sector faces chronic underfunding while receiving growing demand. The strategy must urgently address the need to sustainably fund community-based counselling services.

Choice of therapy

  • Research shows people who make informed choices about the type of psychological therapy they access are more likely to enjoy positive outcomes. It’s vital there’s greater focus and increased investment in ensuring a full range of evidence-based interventions are available so everyone has a choice of the type of therapy they wish to access.

Swift, flexible access

  • Long waiting times, limited choice of therapies and rigid service design and access thresholds, make it harder for people to access the support they want early. Prioritising swift, flexible access to psychological support must be central to any mental health strategy aiming to prevent avoidable harm and save lives.

Children and young people

  • Expanding early intervention and youth mental health services for people aged 16 to 25 could bridge current service gaps and reduce disruption from the transition from children to adult mental health services.

School counselling

  • Early intervention must start with children and young people, including with counselling in schools as highlighted in the Milburn Review which recognised counselling in schools as a key lever to solve the NEETs crisis. There is robust evidence that school counselling helps children to thrive.

Missing middle

  • The strategy must address the ‘missing middle’ of 730,000 children per year who fall between the provision offered by Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). MHST provision needs to include a route to funded counselling or psychotherapy provision with specialist children and young people’s counsellors working as part of wider, multi-disciplinary team. Young Futures Hubs can also play a crucial role here. There’s an underutilised workforce of qualified therapists who can deliver this support, which can be led by the child or young person to respond to their specific needs.

The Government is expected to announce its mental health strategy later this year.