How do personal health budgets support mental wellbeing: lecture with Breda Spillane

A personal health budget gives choice and control to the individual so they can decide how best to support their health and wellbeing. But what does this mean within mental health services?

In City and Hackney areas, personal health budgets are now available to people within mental health services to use in their recovery journey. While the amounts of money involved have been relatively small, the recovery goals and choices have been varied and innovative for each of the 200+ people who took part in the first year of the programme run by City and Hackney Psychological Therapies and Wellbeing Alliance, in partnership with The Advocacy Project.

Breda Spillane will share the lessons from the first year of the programme, how myths were busted, commissioners and clinicians convinced, and those receiving a budget were supported and encouraged to think about ‘what will help you to get well, and stay well?’

Breda is the Design, Informatics, Evaluation and Strategic Engagement Lead for the Psychological Therapies and Wellbeing Alliance in City and Hackney. She has led a wide range of mental health innovations across NHS and voluntary sector providers.

Before working in health and social care, and gaining a Masters in Ageing and Society, Breda qualified as an architect. She approaches service design in the same way as building design – once you understand the needs and desires of people using the service, then the construction is easy, so the most important thing you can do is speak to people, really listen to what is being said, and work together.