Therapies

Evidence shows that psychological therapies can help millions of people in the UK who experience common and severe mental health problems. Many GPs admit giving prescribing antidepressant medications because they can't access talking therapies for their patients.

The impact of that failure is massive - mental ill health costs over £77 billion in England alone and causes suffering to people of all ages. At least one million adults are out of work with mental health problems and countless children miss out on schooling and fail to achieve their full potential because their mental distress is not treated properly. And many people with long-term physical illnesses develop mental health problems, which go untreated.

Recent Policy Watch

Commissioning talking therapies for offenders

03/02/2009

Alongside guidance for the whole community, the Department of Health has published a guide to assist commissioners to deliver Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services for offenders in prison.

Psychological therapies in the NHS: science, practice and policy

28/11/2008

Alan Johnson's speech to the New Savoy Partnership conference talks about the IAPT programme and the Dame Carol Black review.

"It is the duty of any responsible and compassionate government to make sure that those with mental health problems can access the support they need."

"Today, I am publishing a Statement of Intent. It confirms our commitment to improving access to talking therapies – not just CBT, but all NICE-approved psychological therapies."

Commissioning IAPT for the whole community

07/11/2008

The Department of Health has published a guide to assist commissioners to deliver Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services that are effective and appropriate for the whole community, using innovative ways of meeting the needs of local people.

Read more Policy Watch items on Therapies.

Talking therapies explained

Talking therapies explained booklet cover imageThe Mental Health Foundation has published a guide for anyone who wants to know more about different kinds of talking therapies.

You can get it on their website.

New Savoy Partnership

The New Savoy Partnership is a group of organisations working together to bring psychological therapies to the NHS and improve access for all who need them. It aims to ensure people of all ages and backgrounds who need psychological therapy have appropriate and timely support, delivered by therapists with the right skills, through the NHS.

We Need to Talk

We need to talk cover imageThe Sainsbury Centre is a key member of the We Need to Talk group of organisations that are campaigning for better access to psychological therapies on the NHS.

IAPT Programme

The Department of Health and CSIP are running an Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme.

Two pilot sites were set up in Doncaster and Newham, and now there are 11 more sites across the country running the programme.

Therapy for All on the NHS

Psychological therapy should be freely available on the NHS, according to Lord Layard. This means that 10,000 more staff need to be trained to deliver such treatment. He was speaking at our 2005 lecture.

Download Layard Lecture (47 KB)