Government Backs Campaign To End Mental Health Stigma

The government is to lend its weight to a concerted national campaign to eliminate the stigma that is blighting the lives of people suffering from mental illness, health ministers have announced.

{mosimage}The campaign, spearheaded by the UK’s high profile mental health charities, will use television advertising and community projects across England to tackle the prejudice that prevents those who suffer mental health problems from getting jobs, mortgages, friendships and a fair share of NHS care.

Ivan Lewis, the care services minister who took over responsibility for mental health this month, said:
“It is time to draw a line following years of division over the reform of mental health legislation.

“We should now unite to launch a sustained national campaign against the stigma and ignorance which has blighted the lives of too many people with mental health problems for too long.” He will announce the government’s support for a consortium led by the charities Mind and Rethink, which last week won £18m from the Big Lottery Fund and Comic Relief for a four-year anti-stigma campaign.

Research for the Department of Health found 34% of people in England mistakenly think mentally ill people are prone to violence, compared with 15% in Scotland where a strong anti-prejudice campaign changed attitudes.

Mr Lewis said: “Despite significant additional investment, mental health services in many areas are still not offering the quality support people have a right to expect. I will be consulting with service users, carers and front line professionals to identify the improvements we need to make.”

Mental wellbeing at all life stages would become “a top priority” for the government, he added. His ministerial role is bringing together, for the first time, mental health services for children, young people, adults of working age and older people with dementia.

“Mental wellbeing affects all aspects of our national life and many families from children’s development and ability to learn to our labour market productivity, to the challenges faced by carers coping with the stark realities of dementia. “We are determined to provide leadership so mental health moves from the margins to the mainstream of public policy,” Mr Lewis said.