MONDAY was World Mental Health Day. The annual event shines a light on the many different aspects of our mental health and encourages people to open up and seek help.

One in four people experience a mental health problem of some kind each year but only one in eight adults who have a problem are getting any kind of treatment.

Mental health problems are nothing new but we know so much more about them now and are rightly much more understanding and sympathetic towards those who are struggling.

As a treasury minister I helped to deliver the largest ever cash increase for our NHS in 2018 - an extra £20 billion in real terms each year by 2023-24, including an additional £2.3 billion a year for mental health services.

This extra funding has helped more people than ever receive treatment for mental health conditions, including children.

For example, an additional £79 million is increasing the number of mental health support teams in schools and an extra £31 million is helping to prevent children and young people with a learning disability or autism from escalating into crisis.

An additional £7 million is providing training and support for staff dealing with children and young people experiencing trauma, anxiety, or grief. To boost mental health services further, £111 million will be invested to train NHS staff so two million more people, including children, can access mental health care and treatment by 2023/24.

The Government will also pay for a member of staff in every school to be trained as a senior mental health lead by 2025.

But, as I have argued before, increasing funding is not enough. It must be accompanied by meaningful reform, which is why the government is overhauling the Mental Health Act of 1983.

A draft bill was published this summer and is now going through the committee stage of parliamentary scrutiny.

The reforms will improve choice and autonomy for patients so people can express preferences on their care while they are still well, before they may need go into hospital.

The bill will help to tackle the racial disparities in mental health services (black people are shockingly four times more likely to be sectioned than white people) and change how we treat people with a learning disability or autism by rendering those reasons on their own as insufficient to detain someone for treatment.

Above all, the bill will improve access to community-based mental health support, including crisis care, to reduce detentions, which should always be a last resort.

Our local NHS urgent mental health helpline is available 24/7 on 0808 196 8708. An NHS professional will discuss your mental health needs and provide access to further support if needed.

For non-urgent mental health support please contact your local GP.


► More from Mel at https://www.melstridemp.com or follow him on twitter @MelJStride.