I spent an afternoon talking with the staff of a local charity that helps young people with mental health problems. The Moving On Project is a charity operating in Fareham and Gosport which provides help for young people aged 11-25 to improve their lives. The service offers confidential, discrete support, including free counselling to local young people.
During my visit, I talked with staff and learnt of the success stories of youngsters who were suffering from mental health issues and were helped to improve their lives through the work of the charity.
I was delighted to meet the inspirational team at the Moving On Project. They offer brilliant services for local young people who experience mental health issues and I would urge people to recommend them to family and friends who need support. I would like to thank all of those at the Moving On Project for the invaluable work they do in our community.
I am very pleased with the Governments progress in supporting mental health and bringing about true parity of esteem between mental and psychical health in the NHS. Anyone can experience poor mental health at any time, so it is crucial that the support is there with the investment to back it up.The Government is investing more in mental health and an estimated 1,400 more people accessing mental health services every day compared to 2010 - up 40 per cent, as well as around 750,000 more people accessing talking therapies since 2009/10.
In February 2016, an independent Mental Health Taskforce published a new national strategy, setting out an ambitious vision for mental health services. To make these recommendations a reality, the Government will spend an additional £1 billion on mental health by 2020-21 so that people receive the right care in the right place when they need it most. This includes increasing the number of people completing talking therapies by 600,000 per year, and helping 20,000 more people to find or stay in work through individual placement support and talking therapies.
The Government has also introduced the first-ever mental health access and waiting time standards, so that 75 per cent of people referred for talking therapies to treat common mental health problems such as depression and anxiety start their treatment within 6 weeks, and 95 per cent within 18 weeks. These targets have been met and the latest data shows that in May 2016, 84 per cent of people waited less than 6 weeks and 97 per cent of people waited less than 18 weeks.