We鈥檒l be promoting the role and relevance of therapy and the work of our members in changing lives at this year鈥檚 Labour and Conservative Party conferences.
Fiona Ballantine Dykes, our Deputy Chief Executive, is due to take part in a Q&A panel at the Labour Party conference with Dr Rosena Allin Khan, the Shadow Minister for Mental Health.
The panel is titled The long-term impacts of the pandemic on mental health and the case for universal care and will be held in partnership with the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), the British Psychoanalytic Council, and the Institute for Public Policy Research.
Investment
The discussion will explore the need for investment in mental health services following the pandemic and the current cost of living crisis.
Fiona will discuss the state of mental health in England, the barriers that prevent therapists from addressing the levels of mental health need, and what the Government can do about those barriers.
She鈥檒l also be discussing Labour鈥檚 mental health policy proposals and how counsellors and psychotherapists can fit into them.
Our Policy team will also be attending the conference, which is being held in Liverpool from Sunday 25 September to Wednesday 28 September.
Karan Chhabra, our Policy and Public Affairs Officer, said: 鈥淲e'll be talking about how investment in counselling and psychotherapy can fit into a wider package of support to tackle the consequences of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.聽
"We鈥檙e looking forward to ensuring the voice of the profession is heard at the conference.鈥�
Our Policy team will also be at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham (Sunday 2 October to Wednesday 5 October).
Important opportunity
Karan said: 鈥淧arty conference season gives us an important opportunity to champion counselling and psychotherapy on behalf of members.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 do this alone. The voice and experiences of our members is critical to the success of our public affairs work.
鈥淥ur members helped have backed our campaigns for improved access to talking therapies and helped us give politicians and decision makers a better understanding of the need for, and value of therapy.鈥�
We鈥檝e created a guide with suggestions for how members can continue to support our campaigning work.
Our Influencing Guide contains ideas for actions that take a few minutes but could have a significant impact. It also contains information and statistics on our policy objectives in each of the Four Nations to help you draft letters, emails or social media posts to your local MP, MSP, MS or MLA.
Karan added: 鈥淲e know our members are incredible busy, so we hope our Influencing Guide will support them in grabbing the attention of policymakers to help shape the future of our profession.鈥�