Mental health and ‘The Big Society’: Where do counselling psychologists and therapists fit in?

Abstract

Content and FocusIn this paper, we use ‘depression’ as a vehicle for suggesting that current approaches to diagnosing and managing ‘common mental health disorders’ are increasingly untenable in a time of cuts to health care expenditure and changing perspectives on mental health and well-being. We suggest that a collective, community-based response to the human need and suffering encapsulated by such an apparently common condition is possible. However, this would require the individual psychologist or therapist to be much more embedded in the communities they serve.ConclusionsWe recognise that such an approach has practical and political challenges and is not a cheap option but nonetheless have potential to improve outcomes for clients and communities.