A Call for Choice in NHS Mental Health Support
When NHS mental health support doesn’t work for you, currently there’s nowhere else to go, unless you can pay. We think that has to change.
Everyone deserves access to mental health support that works for them...
...just as they deserve physical healthcare that works. And better mental health can often mean better physical health, too. The government's Mental Health Strategy will be published this autumn, and will shape NHS mental health commissioning for a decade and perhaps even beyond. We have a short window to influence the conversations around service design and commissioning, and we need your help to do that.
Help us to make mental health services work for everyone
Contact your MP in under a minute to let them know about our campaign
Hear from those who needed more, and how they found it
These are the people who tried to get help through the current NHS system. They waited, were assessed, and given what the system offered. For them, as for many others, it wasn’t enough and they needed something different, until they found a counsellor that was right for them, and everything changed.
The NHS doesn’t have the funding to carry out therapy properly... In the time where you’re waiting for the NHS to get back to you it can be off-putting.
– Emma
NHS Talking Therapies were very clinical and I didn’t understand it at the time.
– Jack
I think that finding the right support is life-changing
– Amelia, Co-Founder & CEO, Suicide&Co
Case Study: Nour
Nour is a London-based charity supporting survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence and historic child abuse from minoritised communities. Most of our staff and volunteers share the lived experience of the people we serve.
Many of our clients come to us after mainstream services left them explaining their faith or culture before they could even begin to talk about their abuse. The Domestic Abuse Commissioner found that 67% of Black and minoritised survivors want support from services who share their background and understand their community. We were built to be that service.
We deliver therapy in community languages including Somali, Urdu, Bengali, Turkish, Punjabi and Arabic, and we match survivors to a counsellor by language, background and fit, never administrative convenience. Survivors who've had control taken from them by abusers need to choose who they open up to. That choice isn't a preference. It's what makes the therapy work at all.
Getting therapy that works shouldn’t depend on your ability to pay for it
NHS Talking Therapies is the main mental health service available through your GP. For many people, it really does help. But for many others, it isn’t the right fit, and when that happens, there’s no funded alternative.
If you can afford private therapy, you can choose a therapist who suits you. You can find someone who understands your background, speaks your language, or works in a way that makes sense for you.
If you can’t afford it, you take what you’re given. And if it doesn’t work, you’re on your own.
What do GPs think?
Counselling is an extremely valuable part of the support we are able to offer our patients at Trentside Medical Group. While NHS Talking Therapies provides an important service, having access to an in-house counselling service gives patients an additional and genuinely different therapeutic option. In particular, the counselling approach provides an alternative to the predominantly CBT-based interventions that patients may have previously experienced or that may not suit their individual needs or preferences. We regularly see patients for whom a less structured, more exploratory form of talking therapy is valuable, and having greater choice allows psychological support to be better tailored to the individual rather than relying on a single therapeutic model.
Being embedded within the practice also allows counselling to sit alongside the patient’s wider primary care support, providing continuity and an accessible, familiar route to help at a time when people may be particularly vulnerable. Of particular value is the ability to offer therapeutic support to some patients under the age of 18. Access to timely psychological support for children and young people can be extremely challenging, and there can be a considerable gap between recognising that a young person is struggling and them meeting thresholds for, or eventually being seen by, specialist CAMHS services. Having a trusted therapeutic option available during this period can provide meaningful early support rather than leaving young people and their families simply waiting.
For us, this service does not seek to replace NHS Talking Therapies or CAMHS. It complements those services by increasing patient choice, broadening the types of psychological therapy available and filling an important gap in local mental health provision. It has become a genuinely valuable addition to the range of support we can offer our patients.
There are more than 75,000 trained, accredited counsellors and psychotherapists working in the UK right now.
The question isn’t whether the support exists.
The question is who gets access to it.
The numbers behind the people
The NHS funds over 1.8 million referrals to NHS Talking Therapies every year. Only 19% result in reliable recovery, which means that for every five people who seek help, four leave without it, at full cost to the NHS. How can we help the NHS to support those that the service currently misses?
19%
Of people who are referred to NHS Talking Therapies reliably recover. This is because...
63%
of those referred to NHS Talking Therapies drop out before finishing. Only 37% receive a full course of treatment.
49.5%
of people complete a funded course and still don’t get better, as only 50.5% of those who complete treatment reliably recover.
62.5
Average days from referral to the first therapy session.
81%
have no funded alternative when the system doesn’t help.
78%
of NCPS members have seen clients who needed further support after completing their sessions through NHS Talking Therapies.
Make your voice heard
Emma, Jack, Imogen, Matt, and many, many others expected to find solace and recovery in the NHS when they sought mental health help. However, like many, they were faced with long waiting times, limited options, and support that did not meet their needs. The only feasible alternative required financial resources, and while they were able to find the money, it was a struggle. Many people simply can't afford it. For many, it feels like a struggle that shouldn't exist in a system meant to care for its people and keep them healthy and well.
The NHS is a beloved institution that provides world-leading care across the UK, but when it comes to mental health, patients are more likely to complete a course of treatment without improving than they are to have improved, and that's if they complete the course in the first place - many don't. One of the key factors that makes therapy effective is the relationship between the therapist and the patient, or client. It's not the type of therapy that makes a difference, so that's not something you can prescribe like a pill and know that it will solve the problem.
Mental health is also deeply intertwined with physical health. According to the Mental Health Foundation, people with severe mental health issues are more likely to experience physical health problems. The reverse is true as well: better mental health often leads to better overall health and wellbeing. It follows, then, that providing comprehensive mental health support is not just a necessary service in its own right, but it also contributes to a healthier society overall.
With the government's Mental Health Strategy on the horizon, set to be published this autumn, we have a unique and critical opportunity to advocate for change. This strategy will guide NHS mental health commissioning for the next decade. If we want a future where everyone, regardless of their financial situation, has access to adaptable and effective mental health care, we must act now.
Our petition asks that this upcoming strategy include provisions for a broader range of accessible mental health services that cater to diverse needs. This must include:
1. Access to a broader range of talking therapies through primary care
2. The right to find a therapist you can work with, based on what matters to you: how they work, what they specialise in, whether they understand your background or speak your language
3. A funded alternative for people for whom the standard pathway has not worked, so that an unsuccessful course of therapy is never the end of the road, regardless of ability to pay
Statistics show that approximately one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem at some point, according to the charity Mind. Yet, the disparity in opportunity for the right support hinders some people's recovery and wellbeing. We must challenge this and push for reforms that ensure equitable and effective mental health care for all.
Please sign the petition to urge the UK government to take decisive, inclusive action to support everyone's unique mental health needs.
Sign the Petition
We’re calling on the government to ensure that everyone who needs mental health support can access the right therapy for them. Click here to sign the petition.
Email your MP
MPs are influential in determining what gets spoken about in Parliament, and influencing the Department for Health and Social Care. A message from a constituent is one of the most effective ways to make this issue important to them. Tell your MP that NHS Talking Therapies doesn’t work for everyone, that there’s no funded alternative, and that the Mental Health Strategy should change that. You can use our e-action widget to make it easier.
Share your story
If you’ve sought mental health support and struggled to get the right help, we’d be so grateful if you’d share your story with us. All stories are handled with care and will only be used with your explicit permission, but they can help paint a compelling picture of what’s really happening for people. You can write to us at engage@ncps.com.
Spread the word
Share this campaign far and wide. We have some suggested wording below, alongside images you can post, but please feel free to change them if you'd like to.
#1
Getting the right support for your mental health can make a huge difference. I'm sharing this because I think everyone deserves access to mental health support that works for them, and the NCPS do to. That’s why they’re campaigning for more access to a therapist of your choosing, as well as choice of therapy. Find out more and sign the petition here: https://bit.ly/4732Tbv #LostForWordsCampaign
Download the graphic here.
#2
The right therapist can change everything. Everyone should be able to find theirs, no matter how much they have in their bank account. Join me and the NCPS in calling for a change to mental health support in the UK https://bit.ly/4732Tbv #LostForWordsCampaign
Download the graphic here.
#3
Sometimes your first therapist isn't the right one, and that’s totally okay. When it comes to mental health support, everyone deserves the chance to find the therapy, and the therapist, that fits for them. https://bit.ly/4732Tbv #LostForWordsCampaign
Download the graphic here.
