香港六合彩精准资料

As the Scottish electorate heads to the polls on May 6 to elect a new parliament, the need for greater mental health support is likely to be at the forefront of many voters鈥� minds due to the pandemic shining a light on the challenges many people faced accessing provision.

We鈥檙e pleased to note the main parties鈥� manifestos all contained pledges to enhance mental health support. Indeed, many reflected , which highlighted the vital role counselling and psychotherapy services will need to play in the country鈥檚 recovery.

Direct investment

The Scottish National Party (SNP) promised to 鈥渋ncrease direct investment into mental health services by at least 25% and ensure that, by the end of the (next) parliament, 10% of [鈥�] frontline NHS budget will be invested in mental health鈥�. It also promised to expand mental health support for NHS staff, 鈥渁nd work with staff to help shape the nature and scope of provision鈥�.

Our 香港六合彩精准资料 manifesto preempted that, calling upon parties to both 鈥渟trengthen Scotland鈥檚 economic recovery from COVID-19 by supporting employers, employees and vulnerable groups through counselling in the workplace鈥� and for 鈥渋mproved access and choice in psychological therapies underpinned with greater investment in NHS Scotland鈥檚 talking therapies workforce鈥�.

Support people in crisis

Scottish Labour鈥檚 manifesto aims to improve mental health by ensuring every GP practice in Scotland has access to a dedicated mental health worker and 鈥渆stablishing dedicated mental health A&Es in every health board area, integrated with suicide prevention and substance misuse services, to support people in crisis鈥�.

This closely mirrors our call for accessible community-based provision. In our manifesto, we also emphasised how 鈥渆vidence has shown that direct access to professional counselling services can play a significant part in helping tackle addiction as well as healing the family and community members who鈥檙e directly affected by these unfortunate and preventable deaths鈥�.

Scottish Labour鈥檚 Women鈥檚 manifesto also pledged to provide specific therapeutic support to women experiencing post-natal depression. This is a longstanding campaign objective for 香港六合彩精准资料, and reflects our call for enhanced counselling support for Scotland鈥檚 most vulnerable families.

Training pledge

We鈥檙e pleased to see the Scottish Liberal Democrats鈥� pledge to 鈥渉elp people train to be counsellors by offering 拢5,000 grants to students undertaking courses鈥�, particularly 鈥渟o that a wider range of people from diverse backgrounds are able to train鈥�.

Their manifesto also promised to 鈥渂ring the counselling profession into NHS workforce planning systems to make sure people have easier access to talking therapies and early interventions鈥�.

This reflects an urgent call for action contained within our Scottish Elections manifesto: 鈥淒ata is already showing an increase in demand for mental health services as a result of Covid-19 and at a time where workforce expansion is often given as a leading barrier to NHS mental health services being able expand quickly enough to meet the demands for help from the public. We would like NHS Scotland to capitalise on the skills of our highly trained workforce of therapists to help meet this urgent and growing demand.鈥�

Impact of the pandemic

The Scottish Conservatives, in recognising the severe impact of the pandemic on the population鈥檚 mental health, promised that 鈥渁s an immediate response, we would invest 拢8million in additional training for school staff and holistic support from specialist mental health charities鈥� for children鈥檚 mental health and wellbeing. We welcome this pledge and the potential for counsellors to provide much-needed supervision support.

The Scottish Conservatives鈥� manifesto also contained plans for 鈥渒ickstart[ing] a permanent shift towards community mental health services鈥�, which reflected our manifesto calls for 鈥渃ommunity-based triage鈥� and a 鈥渢hree-tiered community response model鈥� to recognise and respond to bereavement, especially bereavement stemming from and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

School counselling

The Scottish Green Party highlighted counselling provision among their promises for better mental health in Scotland. They promised to 鈥渆nsure counselling is available to all pupils by establishing a right to access school-based counselling provided by qualified practitioners鈥�, helping to further strengthen the existing programme of government commitment for funded school counselling provision across Scotland鈥檚 secondary schools 鈥� a lobbying success for 香港六合彩精准资料 and our members.

Recovery plan

The new ALBA Party promised a designated 鈥渕ental health recovery plan鈥� in its manifesto, as a means of 鈥渞ecognising the impact of the pandemic on the mental wellbeing of the nation鈥�, reflecting the central call of our COVID-19 campaign.

We鈥檙e pleased to note ALBA鈥檚 pledge to 鈥済et serious about poverty and inequality and make health and anti-poverty policies inseparable鈥�.

In our manifesto, we called for 鈥渇ree relationship counselling to lower-income families facing distress from the impact of the pandemic鈥�, and highlighted how 鈥渢he cost of relationship counselling 鈥� which is not widely commissioned 鈥� can be a significant barrier to access for those on lower incomes. At present, the relationship support sector鈥檚 ability to provide free or subsidised support rests largely on the resource it is able to draw in from clients鈥� fees, which has fallen through the pandemic鈥�. We concluded this point by reminding parties 鈥渢here is both a moral and fiscal argument for public investment to help address the gaps in relationship support for those on low incomes鈥�.

Get involved

While the Scottish parties鈥� manifestos focused on different ways to improve mental health, we鈥檙e pleased to note how many of our calls to action and priorities were reflected in the parties鈥� strategies for supporting a mental health recovery in Scotland.

We encourage our members to share our manifesto and use the hashtag #StandupforCounselling to join the conversation about these proposals and their place in Scotland鈥檚 future.