Theresa May revealed a plan for every new teacher in England will be trained how to spot early warning signs of mental illness.
“Too many of us have seen first-hand the devastating consequences of mental illness,” says Mrs May. Before leaving the office, Mrs May called for improvements in preventing problems.
She wants teachers to have training to include lessons in identifying children who may have mental health problems and to address any problems such as self harm. There will be £1 million for a competition to come up with innovative ideas to tackle mental health problems among students.
NHS staff will also be encouraged to take suicide prevention training and an update for social workers to make them take relevant training. The measures will be funded from the NHS in their long-term increase in spending. The government have already announced that the spending budget on mental health would increase faster than overall health service budget.
The prime minister also promised the publications of a White Paper setting out the government’s response to Sir Simon Wessely’s review of the Mental Health Act.
Sir Simon Wessely, who carried out a government-commissioned review of the act that was published last December, said: “The recommendations of the review of mental health legislation that she commissioned have been warmly welcomed from all sides but now need to be acted on. Today’s announcements are a further welcome step towards that goal.”
Barbara Keeley, the shadow minister for mental health, said: “The prime minister is failing to address the real crisis. Training for teachers and other professionals is welcome but when we know thousands of children and young people are either turned away from mental health services or have to wait too long for treatment, it’s clear that she’s missing the real issue.
“This Tory government has cut local authority funding and failed to protect mental health budgets. Labour will invest more in mental health services and ring-fence budgets so that funding reaches those who need support,”
Although Mrs May stepped down as a Conservative party leader she still remains as prime minister and wants to go forward with the ideas. Last month she launched the findings of a review into university and further education college funding. She supported the idea to cut fees to £7,500 in England and an increase in support for further education colleges.
According to Children’s Society there are as many as 106,000 10-to-17-year-olds with mental health problems are being denied care because of NHS services in England see them as not ill enough to need help.
