Hi Yana, yes it is funded by the British National Health Service. Funding decisions are made locally and a particularly enlightened team of commissioners and NHS managers have chosen to continue to fund this project over the last 20 years.
This is a thoughtful article about a very important topic. I was a signatory to an open letter to the UK’s Independent newspaper raising concern about the same issue:
It’s also worth noting that the British Psychological Society’s new presidential team has issued a more strongly worded statement expressing concern about this development:
“The British Psychological Society’s Presidential team has expressed concern at research suggesting that people claiming unemployment benefit are being coerced into undertaking psychological interventions. The research by Lynne Friedli and Robert Stearn is published in the June 2015 issue of Medical Humanities. Professor Jamie Hacker Hughes, President of the British Psychological Society, said: “We are concerned at what the paper has revealed, particularly the issue of coercion to undertake psychological interventions. “Friedli and Stearn suggest that unemployment is being rebranded as a psychological disorder, with an increasing range of interventions being introduced to promote a ‘positive’ psychological outlook or leave claimants to face sanctions.” “
That would be great, thank you Carina. Your own service is sooooo inspiring too!
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Hi Yana, yes it is funded by the British National Health Service. Funding decisions are made locally and a particularly enlightened team of commissioners and NHS managers have chosen to continue to fund this project over the last 20 years.
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This is a thoughtful article about a very important topic. I was a signatory to an open letter to the UK’s Independent newspaper raising concern about the same issue:
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/letters-ill-pay-more-tax-for-a-more-decent-society-10185867.html (‘Tories Undermine Patient Consent’).
It’s also worth noting that the British Psychological Society’s new presidential team has issued a more strongly worded statement expressing concern about this development:
http://www.bps.org.uk/blog/presidential/psychology-and-unemployed
The statement begins:
“The British Psychological Society’s Presidential team has expressed concern at research suggesting that people claiming unemployment benefit are being coerced into undertaking psychological interventions. The research by Lynne Friedli and Robert Stearn is published in the June 2015 issue of Medical Humanities. Professor Jamie Hacker Hughes, President of the British Psychological Society, said: “We are concerned at what the paper has revealed, particularly the issue of coercion to undertake psychological interventions. “Friedli and Stearn suggest that unemployment is being rebranded as a psychological disorder, with an increasing range of interventions being introduced to promote a ‘positive’ psychological outlook or leave claimants to face sanctions.” “
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