Therapy to get back to work
December 5, 2009
Jobless Britons are to be offered therapy to help them get back into work, under a “talking treatment” programme to be announced by the government over the next few weeks.
On Monday the Department for Work and Pensions will announce that mental health co-ordinators will be based in Jobcentres. The plans, which will make mental health treatment and particularly cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) central to the fight to get Britain back to work after the recession, will eventually see centres providing CBT set up around the country.
I think this is a fantastic idea – and we should see more of this in Ireland and the US. CBT isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but as insurance companies the world over have found out – it’s cheaper than other forms of talking therapy. I hope this initiative will be evaluated and that it might even open people’s minds up to the possibility of other forms of psychotherapeutic interventions.