New policy review on poverty and mental health published

The Mental Health Foundation has produced a paper to support the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s upcoming anti-poverty strategy.

There is a close link between poverty and mental health: poverty can be a cause or consequence of mental ill health. There are a complex set of environmental factors which can significantly affect mental health and getting to the root of the problem requires engagement with this complexity.

This paper presents a conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between poverty and mental health and offers recommendations to improve the situation across the life course.

Author Iris Elliott intends ‘Poverty and mental health’ to be a substantial resource for those wanting to address these joint problems whatever the context, whether it be government, services or communities.

“The report speaks to the complexity of addressing mental health and poverty, detailing how governments across the UK can tackle mental health and poverty through policy, services and research in health, social care, education, employment, social security, advice and the built environment,” she said in an accompanying blog.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s anti-poverty strategy for the UK will be launched on 6 September.