Preventing Mental Illness
Improving the population’s mental health and wellbeing and preventing mental illness and suicide is a key priority for public health. Like much public health, this priority
requires action across many sectors, including those working across early years, education, health and social care, business, welfare and housing, criminal justice, neighbourhoods
and communities.
Training staff with the knowledge and skills to improve mental health and wellbeing and prevent mental illness and suicide is a specific recommendation within the NHS Five Year Forward View for Mental Health (1) and Public Health England’s (PHE) public mental health leadership and workforce development framework (2). PHE’s review of the public health workforce (3) identified resilient communities and better public mental health as key drivers affecting the public health workforce in the future.