Mental Health Improvement and Wellbeing. Good mental health and wellbeing is crucial to ensuring that all our citizens are able to cope with life’s stressors, and particularly in light of the ongoing challenging economic problems being experienced around the world. Mental health and well-being, particularly where this is to be sustained and improved upon, requires everyone to recognise they have a part to play. The impact of welfare reform, continually rising unemployment and reducing budgets in public sector services may tip some families and individuals into financial difficulties and we need to ensure that people have the resilience and coping mechanisms to help them be able to deal with these future pressures without hitting crisis point. There is strong evidence suggesting people require much more in the way of promoting positive mental well-being in times of austerity augmented by the importance of public services working with communities, creating productive partnerships with individuals, communities and fellow agencies. There are many things which we will not be able to control and in light of that we need to work out how we as organisations can cope with increased demand for our services (being mindful of the health and wellbeing of our employees) as well as supporting our communities to cope. There is growing evidence to suggest that if community planning partnerships invest in mental health improvement, they will save in other areas. Mental health improvement and subjective well-being can positively impact on outcomes related to life expectancy, chronic disease, alcohol and drug use, and pro-social behaviour. The economic case for mental health improvement is far reaching in terms of investment in early interventions and encouraging people to seek help early. This is also the case in terms of the cost effectiveness of bringing about additional savings to society through enhanced educational and employment potential, as well as reduced crime and antisocial behaviour. Moreover, continuing investment in mental health improvement can help to alleviate the negative impact of mental health problems, which affect people of all ages. It can restrict their educational, employment, social and emotional potential and produce a heavy burden on public finances, which are estimated as costing Scotland over £8 billion per year plus the impact mental health problems can create in enormous stresses on individuals, families and communities. By focusing on determining appropriate short-, medium- and long...
