This paper is one of a series of six commissioned by Pathway to inform policy development through the NHS 10-year plan and the cross-Government homelessness strategy.
Drawing on the expertise of our Pathway Fellows, other experts, and our colleagues with lived experience of homelessness, each paper identifies actionable policies for change. All the papers underline the importance of a preventative approach, prioritising action which stops social and economic disadvantage leading to exclusion, collapsing health and early mortality.
You can watch the launch of our Policy Papers for Inclusion Health here.
Seeing the Whole Person – A Preventative Approach to Mental Health and Homelessness
Good quality mental health care is not only a crucial part of ending homelessness, but also preventing it. Over 80% of people sleeping rough report a mental health vulnerability, including many with high levels of severe mental illness. Many are also known to have had significant contact with mental health services before they became homeless while they were still housed.
This paper identifies how mental health care is failing to meet the needs of vulnerable people at an early enough stage; crises set in, and housing is put at risk as a direct result of missed prevention opportunities. And for people experiencing homelessness and mental illness (often due to early trauma), the fragmentation of services leaves huge gaps in mental healthcare, resulting in the most vulnerable being excluded from mental health care provision and facing serious further deterioration in health.
The paper sets out urgent recommendations for action to build accessible and compassionate mental health services and care for all, including for those at risk of losing their homes, and creating meaningful and funded referral routes for people with severe and enduring mental illness.
About the author
Dr Jenny Drife has been the consultant Psychiatrist in the START team, a community mental health team for people sleeping rough in Lambeth, Southwark, and Croydon, since 2016. They also support people who are insecurely housed and experiencing both mental health and substance misuse problems.
Dr Drife is currently chair of the Mental Health subgroup in Pathway’s Faculty for Homeless and Inclusion Health.