The FINANCIAL — More funding directed towards counselling and psychotherapy services in the UK could help curb escalating costs in public and mental health and ensure the country’s future wellbeing, according to the report by The London School of Economics and Political Science.
The parliamentary reception, hosted by Charles Walker MP, is an opportunity to hear key speakers comment on the evidence and debate the issue.
"At BACP we are committed to investigating the economic benefits of therapy as a preventative intervention to improve public health. Psychological therapies are an essential tool in the development and repair of resilience and wellbeing. We have commissioned this review to look into the cost-effectiveness of counselling and psychotherapy, as well as to emphasise how these therapies can be incorporated into strategic planning for health and social care."
"A therapeutic treatment that improves health will often have economic benefits. Partly, this is because healthier individuals make fewer demands on the health care system, and partly because healthier individuals are economically more productive, either through paid work or through their non-work activities such as caring for someone else, volunteering or studying," Professor Martin Knapp, Director of the Personal Social Services Research Unit and Professor of Social Policy at LSE, who authored the BACP commissioned report, said.
It is intended that the policy paper will provide an evidence-informed perspective to demonstrate the contribution of counselling and psychotherapy to improving public health across all age ranges and across a range of physical and mental health conditions.
"This is a very welcome report and highlights the important contributions that counselling and psychotherapy make to improving the public's mental health. Good mental health is an essential part of our overall health and the new public health system has the opportunity for ensuring that we give equal attention to mental health as we do physical health," Gregor Henderson, Head of Mental Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England, said.
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