Time for change

New CEO Philippa Mariani shares reflections on her first 100 days and the priorities as she sees them for the future.

When you’re struggling with your mental health, a lot of things can feel daunting; the people who help us navigate those challenges really matter to our wellbeing, to whether we feel listened to and understood.

Without the right support, it is very hard to feel better and live the life we want and deserve.

For some people, this may come from friends, family, or community. But for many, the support of professionals will also be vital. This could be a GP, a social worker, a nurse, a therapist, a teacher, a manager at work, or an employment advisor.

Someone to stand by your side, to advocate for you, to help you to manage the things that matter to us all: our homes, our relationships, our health, our finances.

These are the people who can help to make all the difference.

Making a difference

That is why I am so pleased to have joined the team as CEO at Think Ahead: the non-profit organisation that advocates for mental health to be part of professional learning and development across the whole health and social care workforce.

Think Ahead is an organisation that makes a difference, well-known for its successful social work programme.

Launched eight years ago, it has trained nearly 1,000 people through a two-year specialist mental health career development pathway, culminating in qualification with a post-graduate certificate and master’s degree.

In my first 100 days I have learnt a huge amount about the social work profession. Social workers are knowledgeable about a remarkable breadth of practice, policy, and legalisation. And they manage large, diverse and often complex caseloads.

Their role is challenging. It can be emotionally draining and they often feel undervalued.  Yet thousands still apply to train with us, often leaving successful careers behind to do something that truly matters. It takes real courage to do that, and I am immensely proud to be leading the organisation that delivers that difference.

I am in awe of the dedication and expertise running through the organisation and its partners – academic, mental health trusts, local councils and voluntary and community sector organisations.

More action and more urgency

I have seen how tough it is for social workers in mental health services. Organisations like BASW are doing an excellent job of advocating for social workers: arguing for better working conditions with more modern, flexible working cultures, strong leadership and a workforce with enough people, resources, and training to do the jobs they love effectively.  We back their campaign for more action and more urgency to make these changes a reality.

When the government launched the consultation to inform its proposed mental health and wellbeing plan in 2022, we engaged social workers, operational leads, trainee social workers, colleagues, and people with lived experience of services.

We submitted evidence that spoke to the pressing challenges faced by services and practitioners: the need for better working conditions, for the recruitment and retention challenges to be faced head-on, for services to be truly integrated to provide holistic support to service users.

We were deeply disappointed to learn last month that that the government’s plan will no longer go ahead but have been reassured that all evidence submitted will still inform new proposals under the Major Conditions Strategy.

We cannot hope to improve the mental health of people, without investing in the workforce.

Prioritising the workforce

Any plan, strategy, or approach must prioritise the workforce. It must listen to what practitioners are saying, respond to why they are leaving, prioritise their wellbeing, and give them the resources necessary to do their jobs effectively. Their voices and the voices of the people whose lives they support must not be lost.

We hope that the Major Conditions Strategy will work alongside the long-awaited NHS Workforce Plan and, together, they will go some way to tackling these issues. We need to focus on how to attract people into the workforce and then provide them with the support, prospects, and resources to encourage them to stay.

My first 100 days have been about learning – learning from colleagues, from our trainees, from practitioners, partners, and people with lived experience of mental health services. I can see there are immense challenges ahead, but also great opportunity.

We all know that change needs to happen. I look forward to being a part of that change: helping to make the difference for people with mental health issues and the people who work with them.