What will the future look like in terms of Mental Health and Wellbeing?

The month of October was key for Mental Health awareness, with World Mental Health day taking place. It was great to see so many people and organisations take part in the day, but Mental Health awareness is not exclusive to just one month.

This year more than any other has been so difficult for so many people and there is grave concern about the short and long term impact this year is having and will continue to have on people’s mental health.

There may already be a conversation around the topic of mental health and of course any way we can increase awareness of these issues is key to starting conversation and encouraging people to open up.

But more needs to be done; awareness alone is not enough.

It is important to ensure that the support services we have in place to protect our communities’ mental health and wellbeing are, and that they are accessible to anyone should they need them.

A report by Deloitte highlighted the costs to the UK economy and to businesses of poor mental health. In short, the entire annual cost to the UK economy would fund the whole of the NHS. The figures, updated just before the current crisis hit, were that UK business were losing £45 billion annually.

On average a company will lose £1250 per employee, mainly due to absenteeism, presenteeism (poor productivity) and in recruitment. One in four people in the workplace will be affected at some point. The recent crisis will have exacerbated the issue.

It is clear that there is a huge wave on the horizon and as community based and grassroots organisations we need to prepare and implemented changes (if we haven’t already done so) to ready for the wave of demand for more support from the local population.

According to Nigel Taylor who has worked in social care for the last 7 years, the NHS spends approximately 12% of its budget on mental health issues and most of that is on treatment of severe cases, both acute and chronic. It is unrealistic to believe that any amount of extra NHS funding could be directed towards early intervention. With public funding stretched, at least part of the answer must come from the private sector.

As we all know, the third sector will inevitably step into the breech.

One key area to consider is how you can adapt your existing services to overcome the current challenges, particularly how you can take them online to make them more easily accessible.

We have previously discussed how technology is helping the VCS to evolve in a previous blog, where we have shared some great examples of how organisations are adapting.

It is also important to consider how you can reach out and engage with more individuals. It is key to remember that not everyone who is suffering will reach out for support, so looking at the different ways you can still reach these people is vital.

Is now the time to consider addressing this collective issue in a collective way? For example, exchanging good practice with other organisations and planning online interventions at different times to ensure a steady continuity of service for our communities? Perhaps some of you have already promoted your service on social media platforms and neighbourhood online groups?

With the above in mind, do you feel your organisation is ready to cope with the increase in demand for your services?

Or if you have already started seeing an increase in demand, how have you been coping with this?

The sharing of ideas between different organisations will be vital in helping everyone prepare and adapt. Afterall, we are all in this together.

If you have any advice or information you would like to share with us and other voluntary and community organisations, please get in touch with us.

In the next few weeks we will be sharing a blog and a series of posts to help signpost individuals to where and how they can access the support they need and we would love to include as much information as possible.