World Mental Health Day 2023
It’s an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the importance of mental health. To talk about our mental health and how to look after it, raise awareness of where to seek help if you are struggling and advocate for positive changes that ensure better mental health for all.
This year’s theme is ‘Mental health is a universal human right’. Everyone has the right to the highest possible standard of mental health, including protection from mental health risks and access to support and care when needed.
Everyday, social workers and social care staff around the world play a crucial role in improving mental health services and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for the people they support. Thank you for everything you do to uphold positive mental health as a universal human right.
However, we also know that far more needs to be done to better support social workers with their mental health too.
Years of under-investment in social work and social care services across the UK has resulted in unacceptable working conditions, depleted workforce capacity and significant pressure on services. This is placing a serious toll on the mental health and wellbeing of practitioners.
BASW will continue to raise these problems with policy-makers and call on them to deliver the funding and resources needed to improve working conditions, address workload pressures and invest in staff wellbeing.
BASW makes case to UK Government
Alongside the British Psychological Society (BPS), BASW recently uncovered that Councils in England lost over 500,000 working days to mental ill-health and stress among their social care staff last year.
The wellbeing of our social care workforce should be a top priority and the need for urgent action has never been starker.
BASW England and BPS have therefore today written to the UK Government warning them of these troubling findings and demanding steps are taken to address the situation. We’re calling for:
- Monthly reporting of staff absences: Implement a robust system for monthly reporting of staff absences to identify common patterns and gain a comprehensive understanding of the reasons behind these absences.
- Long-term, ring-fenced funding of services: Allocate sustained, ring-fenced funding for dedicated mental health and wellbeing support for health and care staff. This should include the immediate reinstatement and expansion of NHS staff mental health and wellbeing hubs. The closure of these hubs, as mentioned in the report, has left a significant void in mental health support for social care staff, leaving both them and the individuals they serve vulnerable.
- Improvement of pay and working conditions: Acknowledge the demanding nature of social care work and take decisive measures to improve pay and working conditions for social care workers. Valuing and supporting these professionals are essential not only for retaining existing staff but also for attracting new talent, thereby ensuring the provision of effective, safe services to our communities.
Read the full letter below.
BASW Marks World Mental Health Day
We’ve published the following resources for World Mental Health Day 2023:
- Daphne McKenna: A Life in Social Work
- ‘Where’s the Plan to Tackle Poor Mental Health?’| Professional Social Work Magazine
- ‘Self Neglect: Exploring the Social Work Response’ | Let’s Talk Social Work Podcast
Other resources available:
- Older Adult Mental Health Awareness Week | IFSW
- Get Involved for World Mental Health Day | Mental Health Foundation
Access BASW's Professional Support Service
All BASW members- social workers and students- in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can access our free Professional Support Service at anytime. This is also available to non-members in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
You can book a 1:1 session with one of our trained peer coaches, who is also a social worker. Sessions offer essential space to support wellbeing and address practice concerns. Find out more below.
