Centre for Mental Health

Centre for Mental Health Speaking up for social justice in mental health.

It’s Employability Week, and we’re celebrating our role in supporting people into meaningful employment.For over 20 year...
12/06/2026

It’s Employability Week, and we’re celebrating our role in supporting people into meaningful employment.

For over 20 years, we’ve been experts in Individual Placement and Support (IPS) – an approach that helps people with health conditions find and keep jobs that align with their preferences.

This year alone, we’ve trained more than 500 people in the IPS model, who go on to support others into employment. By being more aligned to the model, the IPS services we train will better support people into employment with:

✔️ Better job matching
✔️ Better support
✔️ Longer job tenure

Find out more: https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/training/

📢 Have your say on the new mental health strategy for England. We warmly welcomed the Government’s announcement last mon...
11/06/2026

📢 Have your say on the new mental health strategy for England.

We warmly welcomed the Government’s announcement last month to create a cross-government mental health strategy and call for evidence. Centre for Mental Health has been calling for this for a long time, and our evidence will set out what steps can be taken to make it as effective, sustainable and equitable as possible.

This strategy is a chance to change the way we are governed, by putting our mental health at the heart of policymaking. And you can submit evidence too.

We want the Government to hear from people first-hand about what’s needed to make the strategy impactful, and are encouraging anyone who has knowledge about mental health to give evidence. If you want to contribute, we’ve created a new guide.

Our guide sets out a summary of the areas we’ll be including in our evidence, alongside the questions from the call for evidence, and background provided by the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).

🔗 You can find the guide here: https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/government-mental-health-strategy-for-england-call-for-evidence/

And if you submit a response using our evidence from the guide, please let us know!

09/06/2026

🎙️ New podcast episode: How do poverty, racism and structural inequality shape people's mental health - and what does it actually take to change that?

In our brand new podcast series, Andy Bell sits down with three extraordinary leaders from the voluntary sector to explore what real, community-rooted mental health support looks like.

💬 "Racism isn't an experience, it is a chronic stressor and a trauma for the Black community. It shapes how they are viewed in the world, it shapes how they see themselves." - Danielle Bridge, CEO of Black Minds Matter UK.

💬 "I never knew this could be a place for me - I just thought it was for rich people or middle class people, not people like me." - A client of Nottingham Counselling Service, shared by Shoana Qureshi-Khan.

This is the first episode in a two-part series, generously supported by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or read the full transcript on our website - links below 👇

08/06/2026

People from racialised communities face disproportionately high levels of trauma. This stems from experiences of historical trauma as a legacy of racism, slavery and segregation, and is compounded by the wearing effects of racism in the present.

Racism not only causes trauma but also prevents people from getting the right support for their mental health.

Trauma-informed care must also be anti-racist, recognising how structural racism and inequality shape mental health outcomes. That was one of the key messages of our recent webinar with NHS Race & Health Observatory and Coffee Afrik CIC.

In this clip, Abdirahim Hassan, Founder of Coffee Afrik CIC talks of how trauma in racialised communities is not individual. It is structural, layered and intergenerational. While Khaleel Mohammed, Coffee Afrik's Youth Lead, discusses the distrust and disconnect that can undermine support services, and the need for solutions and systems that are built around the community, for them and led by them as well.

The mental health needs of people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have been badly neglected for too...
05/06/2026

The mental health needs of people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have been badly neglected for too long.

Earlier this year, together with James’ Place UK we convened an online roundtable around ADHD and how it intersects with mental health, with a particular focus on su***de prevention.

We were joined by experts by experience, medical doctors, representatives of third sector organisations and researchers.

Our latest briefing highlights the key themes and insights that emerged from the roundtable, emphasising how service provision for ADHD is and has been grossly inadequate, and has led to many people experiencing significant harm over decades.

Participants agreed that the route to improve this is through significant systemic reform. We need better services and provision that centre lived and living experience and holistic person-centred approaches. This includes implementing the NHS England Independent ADHD Taskforce report in full.

🔗 Read the briefing and recommendations for action
https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/publications/suffering-is-not-inevitable-a-thematic-analysis-of-a-roundtable-on-adhd-and-mental-health/

We will continue to make the case for policy and practice changes and for robust research to meet the mental health needs of people with ADHD.

With thanks to Alice Brockway, a Lived Experience Influencer at the National Su***de Prevention Alliance, for her work producing this briefing.

We've joined a number of mental health organisations in writing to Secretary of State Bridget Phillipson and the Chair o...
02/06/2026

We've joined a number of mental health organisations in writing to Secretary of State Bridget Phillipson and the Chair of the EHRC, to raise concerns about the EHRC Code of Practice published on the 21st May 2026.

The publication of the Code has not reassured us that trans and non-binary people’s lives will not be negatively affected by its implementation. We believe it will likely have an impact on their mental health and may make trans and non-binary people seeking support for mental distress or mental illness feel unsafe and unsupported.

Our thoughts go out to the many trans and non-binary people in the UK who will have felt significant distress, fear and upset since the publication of the EHRC Code of Practice last week. We, like many of them, remain uncertain of what this Code means for them, and how it will be implemented. Such a potentially life-changing piece of guidance deserves proper parliamentary scrutiny and debate and we hope the Government will facilitate that.

Read the letter, signed by Centre for Mental Health, Mind, Mental Health Foundation, Rethink Mental Illness, Mental Health First Aid England, National Survivor User Network, NSUN, Mental Health Matters, Beat, The McPin Foundation, Samaritans, Children & Young People's Mental Health Coalition:
https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/news/item/leading-mental-health-organisations-raise-concerns-on-ehrc-code-of-practice/

As we mark the start of our Associate Director of Policy, Sam Dick, shares reflections on the connection between his m...
01/06/2026

As we mark the start of our Associate Director of Policy, Sam Dick, shares reflections on the connection between his mental health and his sexuality.

"I cannot discuss my mental health without reflecting on the harm and trauma I experienced when a teen and young adult because of other people’s homophobic attitudes. Nor can I discuss my sexual identity without reflecting on how my mental health has informed what parts of myself I feel most comfortable with or feel shame about, which aspects of my identity I choose to share with others.

It has taken me until my 40s, and consistent access to talking therapies, to really help me understand how deeply these two things are connected. It has also made me realise how lasting the impact of that experience in my formative years was. How it has had, and still has, an impact on my wellbeing and mental health today. "

Read the full blog: https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/mental-health-and-sexual-identity-a-personal-and-political-story/

Nearly a million young people are not in work, education or training. Young people's mental health has declined steeply ...
28/05/2026

Nearly a million young people are not in work, education or training. Young people's mental health has declined steeply compared to previous generations.

Young people today are just as keen as previous generations to work, and want a better future. But years of inaction across health, education and employment services have let young people down.

That's the findings of Alan Milburn's interim report on young people and work, published today.

We're calling on the Government to act now - with early support in every community, real investment in employment programmes, and a mental health strategy that works for everyone.

Young people want to work, to study, to live fulfilling lives. It's time to give them the support to do it.

🔗 Read our full response 👇

Today the Government's consultation on children and social media closes - and this summer it will set out its response. ...
27/05/2026

Today the Government's consultation on children and social media closes - and this summer it will set out its response. We've published a guest blog from that we think should be part of that conversation.

Their argument is simple but important: the crisis in children's mental health didn't start with TikTok. Rates of anxiety and distress were rising years before smartphones became universal, and accelerated during the pandemic. Today's young people are growing up amid financial insecurity, a housing crisis, climate anxiety, global conflict and rapid technological change. No wonder so many are struggling.

Social media does matter - some platforms amplify harm, and stronger regulation of tech companies is essential. But the evidence doesn't support the idea that platforms alone explain what we're seeing.

If we want better for our children, we need sustained investment in the things that protect mental health: strong homes and communities, access to nature and play, early years support, and schools that nurture rather than pressure.

The Government has a real opportunity to get this right. We're calling for a response that takes the complexity seriously - not one that offers a simple answer to a complicated problem.

Read the blog here 👇

Many LGBTQ+ people have experience of suicidal feelings, but what could su***de prevention look like for our communities...
26/05/2026

Many LGBTQ+ people have experience of suicidal feelings, but what could su***de prevention look like for our communities?

Edinburgh University is currently recruiting people to take part in its research aiming to understand LGBTQ+ su***de and su***de prevention at all ages. There are several ways you can get involved, including by taking a survey or giving an interview.

The project, entitled Rain Within the Rainbow, aims to find out more about what contributes to distress or crisis, what has helped people to stay safe and well, and what support people with personal experience think should be available.

Find out more:

https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/rain_within_the_rainbow/getting-involved/

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