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Promoting mental health and preventing mental illness: the economic case for investment in Wales
- Authors:
- FRIEDLI Lynne, PARSONAGE Michael
- Publisher:
- All Wales Mental Health Promotion Network
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 88p.
- Place of publication:
- Cardiff
This report highlights how mental illnesses can often occur early in life and persist throughout adulthood. It recommends early interventions such as supporting parents and children in their early years, and support for lifelong learning, improving working lives and investing in positive steps for mental health are also recommended. This report estimates the overall cost of mental health problems in Wales at £7.2 billion a year. This total includes the cost of health and social care provided for people with mental health problems, the costs of output losses in the Welsh economy are included, and an estimate of the human costs of mental health problems representing their impact on quality of life. This report recommends investment in mental health promotion against a provisional list of value for money programmes, and includes supporting parents and early years parenting skills, training/pre-school education/home learning environment, supporting lifelong learning, health promoting schools and continuing education, improving working lives such as employment/workplace, positive steps for mental health like lifestyle (diet, exercise, sensible drinking) and social support, and supporting communities via environmental improvements. These areas of intervention appear to offer the most favourable balance of effectiveness, scale of potential benefit and likely cost of implementation. These demonstrate that all sectors have a role to play in improving mental health; the need for interventions that involve individuals and communities and those that tackle structural barriers to mental health and wellbeing.