It's been an important day for mental health across England. It provides official recognition that mental health and well-being plays an important part in the wider societal and economic health of the country.
It recognises there is still a lot of work to do, but a way to view New Horizons is almost as a road sign. The government has set out its direction of travel and this direction is largely where mental health charities and organisations want it to go.
But what does New Horizons actually mean for social workers?
And here it is not entirely clear.
The British Association of Social Workers says it is "disappointing" that social workers are barely mentioned given the role they play in working with people with mental health conditions.
It has made a case for where it thinks social workers could play a valuable role.
The four guiding values of equality and justice, reaching full potential, being in control, and valuing relationships, which form some guiding principles in New Horizons, fit well with a social work approach.
Many children and families social workers work with parents with mental health problems and much valuable work is done by child and adolescent mental health services as well as adults mental health services.
Social workers have a strong role as advocates for people who do not receive the services they should, such as appropriate physical care, and are able to engage in therapeutic work as well as to act swiftly in a crisis.
They could, for instance, be very useful is housing situations.
Ruth Cartwright of BASW said: "New Horizons offers social work an opportunity to play a central and leading role in developing personalised services which I would urge social workers and their managers to seize assertively.
"It is important that we do this as there is the possibility that we will be sidelined and our skills not used which would be a terrible waste."
New Horizons recognises there is still a lot of work to do, but it's a start and promises a comprehensive programme of action for improving the mental well-being of the population and the services that care for people with poor mental health by 2020.
The strategy establishes a cross-government approach to tackling this cost and waste of talent.
Get it right and the cost savings could be enormous in terms of the benefits system and the overall NHS bill.
And it is pleasing to see the government taking on board the recommendations made by Dr Rachel Perkins in her review of employment strategy for people with mental health conditions: Realising Ambitions: Better employment support for people with a mental health condition.
And we can see these being put into practice in the government reports Work, Recovery and Inclusion and Working our way to better rmental health.
The British Association of Social Workers says it is "disappointing" that social workers are barely mentioned given the role they play in working with people with mental health conditions.
It has made a case for where it thinks social workers could play a valuable role.
The four guiding values of equality and justice, reaching full potential, being in control, and valuing relationships, which form some guiding principles in New Horizons, fit well with a social work approach.
Many children and families social workers work with parents with mental health problems and much valuable work is done by child and adolescent mental health services as well as adults mental health services.
Social workers have a strong role as advocates for people who do not receive the services they should, such as appropriate physical care, and are able to engage in therapeutic work as well as to act swiftly in a crisis.
They could, for instance, be very useful is housing situations.
Ruth Cartwright of BASW said: "New Horizons offers social work an opportunity to play a central and leading role in developing personalised services which I would urge social workers and their managers to seize assertively.
"It is important that we do this as there is the possibility that we will be sidelined and our skills not used which would be a terrible waste."
New Horizons recognises there is still a lot of work to do, but it's a start and promises a comprehensive programme of action for improving the mental well-being of the population and the services that care for people with poor mental health by 2020.
The strategy establishes a cross-government approach to tackling this cost and waste of talent.
Get it right and the cost savings could be enormous in terms of the benefits system and the overall NHS bill.
And it is pleasing to see the government taking on board the recommendations made by Dr Rachel Perkins in her review of employment strategy for people with mental health conditions: Realising Ambitions: Better employment support for people with a mental health condition.
And we can see these being put into practice in the government reports Work, Recovery and Inclusion and Working our way to better rmental health.
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