Public Mental Health Implementation Centre

The College launched a new Public Mental Health Implementation Centre (PMHIC) this month, to improve awareness and adoption of evidence-based public health programmes.

The overall aim is to prevent mental illness and improve resilience and wellbeing among the public, following the pandemic.

The launch of the PMHIC was celebrated with a high-profile event at the Houses of Parliament in London.

Dr Trudi Seneviratne OBE, the College’s Registrar, spoke at the launch event, saying:

“The pandemic has exacted a heavy toll on the nation’s mental health with one in three people saying their mental health deteriorated over the past two years.

“There are proven strategies for preventing mental illness but a lack of funding and knowledge have stymied progress.

“The Public Mental Health Implementation Centre will boost awareness and adoption of evidence-based programmes that prevent mental illness.

“We must learn lessons for the future and the next pandemic. Investing in evidence-based prevention and protection programmes makes sense morally, medically and economically. It saves money and most importantly saves lives.”

Every pound invested in early intervention delivers a three-fold return on investment and significantly improves outcomes.

But just 2% of England’s public health budget is spent on mental health – in 2020/21, this amounted to £80.867m which is equivalent to £1.43 per person. The College is calling for significantly more funding for public mental health.

The PMHIC will publish and provide advice to NHS commissioners, trusts and others on how to bridge this implementation gap - this will include identifying proven strategies to tackle the root causes of mental illness including inequality, barriers to treatment, discrimination, racism and poor physical health.

Back to our March 2022 eNewsletter.