Theresa May is pledging to help schools and
companies in England deal with the "hidden
injustice" of mental illness.
In a speech, the prime minister will announce
extra training for teachers, more online self-
checking for those with concerns and a review of
services for children and teenagers.
Mental health experts said more funding was
needed to improve services.
Mrs May's speech comes as she outlines her
plans to use the state to create a "shared
society".
She will promise to "transform" attitudes to
mental health problems.
Young women 'highest mental health risk'
One in four adults 'has mental illness'
Politics and jobs 'swell youth anxiety'
The government says one in four people has a
mental disorder at any time, with an annual cost
of £105bn, and that young people are affected
disproportionately.
During her speech, Mrs May will announce several
measures:
Every secondary school to be offered mental
health first aid training
Trials on strengthening links between schools
and NHS specialist staff, including a review of
children and adolescent services across the
country, led by the Care Quality Commission
Appointing mental health campaigner Lord
Stevenson and Paul Farmer, chief executive
of the charity Mind, to carry out a review on
improving support in the workplace
Employers and organisations will be given
additional training in supporting staff who
need to take time off
More focus on community care, with an extra
£15m towards this, and less emphasis on
patients visiting GPs and A&E
Expanding online services to allow symptom
checks before getting a face-to-face
appointment
A review of the "health debt form", under
which patients are charged up to £300 by a
GP for documentation to prove they have
mental health issues
Addressing the Charity Commission, Mrs May will
say: "For too long mental illness has been
something of a hidden injustice in our country,
shrouded in a completely unacceptable stigma
and dangerously disregarded as a secondary
issue to physical health.
"Yet left unaddressed, it destroys lives, it
separates people from each other and deepens
the divisions within our society. Changing this
goes right to the heart of our humanity; to the
heart of the kind of country we are, the values we
share, the attitudes we hold and our
determination to come together and support each
other."
The speech follows Mrs May's announcement at
the weekend that she wishes to create a "shared
society", with the state taking a greater role in
ending "unfairness".
She will say: "This is a historic opportunity to
right a wrong, and give people deserving of
compassion and support the attention and
treatment they deserve. And for all of us to
change the way we view mental illness so that
striving to improve mental wellbeing is seen as
just as natural, positive and good as striving to
improve our physical wellbeing."
Mind chief executive Mr Farmer said it was
"important to see the prime minister talking about
mental health".
He added: "The proof will be in the difference it
makes to the day-to-day experience of the one in
four who will experience a mental health problem
this year. Mental health is everyone's business
and we need to see sustained leadership to make
sure services and support improve".
"Having been neglected for decades, we need to
see it made a priority for decades to come to
make sure everyone with... problems can live the
life they want to lead."
But Philip Timms, a consultant psychiatrist in
London, said there was a long way to go to
improve mental health standards.
"Mental health is still very underfunded compared
to other areas of medicine," he told the BBC. "It
generates probably 20-25% of the total disease
burden, and yet the funding is 10-12% in this
country."
Mrs May's emphasis on a "shared society" marks
a contrast with her predecessor David Cameron's
" Big Society " agenda, which relied on voluntary
organisations rather than state intervention.
