Call for mental health services to become more holistic

Mental health services should move away from a model based
purely on medical diagnosis to one that deals with people’s
wider needs, delegates heard today, writes Simeon
Brody.

Speaking at a conference organised by Homeless Link, which
represents agencies working with rough sleepers, David Morris,
programme director of the Department of Health’s National
Social Inclusion Programme said the “direction of
travel” was with a wider interpretation of mental health
problems.

He added the government may have “turned a corner” in
the move away from basing treatment on diagnostic categories
towards meeting people’s needs as “social
beings.”

Morris also said that the government’s homelessness guidance
was being revised to ensure it took account of mental health
needs.