£10m to Invest in Mental Health Support
An extra £10 million is being invested by the Scottish Government to help people with mental health difficulties at an early stage.
The money will be spent over two years and will support new forms of mental health work in primary care settings, ministers have announced.
Some of the work will focus on improving the physical health of people with severe mental illness.
The SNP administration at Holyrood said the funding, confirmed in the recent draft budget statement, is part of its efforts to improve early intervention and put more focus on prevention.
Mental Health Minister Maureen Watt said: "We want to greatly improve early intervention, so that we can give people timely treatment before more serious problems develop. To do that there needs to be a strong mental health response in primary care settings, and that's what this #10 million programme will help us to do.
"By testing innovative approaches we can see what works and potentially role these out more widely. In particular we want to look at ways in which improving physical health can improve mental health. We also want to look at how targeting resources in deprived or rural communities can begin to break down some of the health inequalities we are still seeing.
"For the first time there will be #1 billion spent on mental health next year - and £5 billion over the next five years. Our commitment to increase the share of frontline spending dedicated to mental health each year of this parliament shows how seriously we take this issue.''
