Suffolk Mind Chief Executive welcomes Budget announcement

The Chief Executive of Suffolk Mind has welcomed the announcement in today’s Budget that an extra £2bn a year will be put into mental health services.

Jon Neal said: “All investment into mental health services is welcome, and what the Government is talking about here will certainly go some way to alleviating the demand on over-stretched crisis services.

“There are two things in particular that we would also like Government to look at, and they don’t have to cost much money.

“Firstly, we’d like to see more investment in prevention. This means working with employers and schools to create environments that are good for getting key emotional needs met. For example, making sure workers have time and space to get away from things and relax at certain points in the day. Or giving children freedom and autonomy to pursue learning and develop resilience to equip them for demands and challenges of the modern workplace.

“Secondly, and more powerfully, we’d love Government to look at all initiatives across the public sector and consider whether they are likely to cause stress and anxiety through creating barriers to meeting emotional needs. For example, targets across the public sector, imposed from above, take away control and autonomy from people working in frontline services and can prevent them from thinking clearly about how best to provide a solution to the challenges they face.

“Investment is always welcome, but cultural change is free.”