May 2015
Community Learning / Mental Health Pilots
Background
1.
The Autumn Statement announced £20 million over two years (£5m 2015-16 / £15m
2016-17) to pilot courses to help adults recover from mild to moderate mental health
problems. We invited bids from directly-funded Community Learning providers (mostly
Local Authority adult education services and FE colleges), who developed their
proposals in conjunction with their local mental health partners.
2.
The Skills Funding Agency has allocated funding across its six operational areas, with
a minimum 5 pilots per Agency area and maximum funding per contract of £80k. 62
successful projects were announced 27th March.
Rationale
3.
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5.
There is already evidence that ‘mainstream’ non-vocational adult education:
- improves wellbeing, with an impact sufficient to offset a gradual decline in
wellbeing as people get older (Learning and Wellbeing Trajectories among Older
Adults in England, Institute of Education, 2012)
- reduces depression, particularly in women (The Relationship between Adult
Learning and Wellbeing: Evidence from the 1958 National Child Development
Study, Institute of Education, 2012)
- improves reported life satisfaction and self-worth, significantly associated with
adult learning (Review and Update of Research into the Wider Benefits of Adult
Learning, London School of Economics, 2012). LSE researchers also found that
the impact of both accredited and unaccredited adult learning on self-confidence is
worth a special mention. “Adult learning has more than twice the impact on selfconfidence than being employed.”
Some adult education services and colleges have already developed mental health
courses targeted specifically at people with mild to moderate mental health problems.
They report that these courses are helping participants develop long term strategies for
understanding and managing their mental health problems.
We are using the Autumn Statement funding to develop more targeted mental health
courses and evaluate their impact, including which kinds of course are most effective
for which types of mental health problem.
Pilot activity
6.
We’re not setting a top-down ‘blueprint’ for the content of mental health courses.
Courses may:
- focus directly on a mental health problem, e.g. a ‘Manage your Stress’ course
- use adult learning activities, such as art, music, craft, dance etc. to to share,
develop and practise strategies for recovering mental health
- directly complement interventions such as IAPT1, NHS-funded Recovery College2
courses or other activities commissioned by local mental health services
- develop completely new learning content and delivery approaches to support and
improve mental health.
7.
The pilot learning offer must include:
Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) is an NHS programme rolling out services across England offering interventions approved by
the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
2 30 + NHS-funded Recovery Colleges in England deliver courses to help people with moderate to severe mental health problems manage their
recovery/ stay well; courses are co-developed by mental health professionals and people who have personal experience of mental disorders;
Recovery Colleges are committed to partnership working and some FE colleges and adult education services are already actively involved
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May 2015
- pre-course discussion and on-going individual support for each course participant,
to help them select their course, discuss progress and plan for return to
employment, and /or progression to training, employment or fulfilling family and
community life
- short, part-time courses to help eligible learners develop the tools, strategies and
resilience to recover from mental health problems, reduce their use of medical
services, re-engage with families and communities, progress to further
learning/training or progress to/return to work.
- ‘top-up’ mental health workshops, as required, for people who have progressed
from courses but feel the need for subsequent support at stressful times.
Beneficiaries
8.
Course participants must be adults aged 19 and over, and experiencing mild to
moderate mental health problems.
Referral
9.
Participants can be referred by a local mental health team, Recovery College, housing
association, GP, Jobcentre Plus, Probation Service, careers service or other relevant
local service. People may also self-refer, providing they are experiencing mild to
moderate mental health problems. The mandatory pre-course discussion will
determine whether the providers’ courses are suitable for the applicant. Providers’
referral channels will be compared and assessed as part of the external evaluation
process.
Outcomes
10. Outcomes will vary according to the individual. External evaluation will gather
anonymised evidence about participants’ progress in relation to:
- anxiety, depression and wellbeing, using the same standardised and validated
assessment scores as used by the national IAPT programme (WEMWBS, GAD-7
for anxiety and PHQ-9 for depression3)
- use of medical services
- return to employment or progression to new learning, training or employment
- positive re-engagement with family and/or active participation in community life.
External evaluation
11. We have appointed an external evaluation team, led by Ipsos MORI, with credibility in
both the adult education and mental health sectors. The evaluators are comparing the
effectiveness of different approaches to workforce training, outreach, referral and
delivery of mental health provision. Findings from Year 1 pilots will help shape the
specification for Year 2 work.
BIS/OGD links
12. BIS policy officials are working with the Department of Health, Public Health England,
NHS England, DWP and Cabinet Office at departmental level.
13. At the local level, individual projects are working with relevant teams/projects, including
IAPT, DWP Psychological Wellbeing and Work pilots4, NHS Recovery Colleges and
mental health charities such as MIND.
In the event that IAPT changed its assessment tools, pilot projects would need to adopt the new IAPT tools
DWP pilots to find the best ways to improve employment and health outcomes for benefit claimants of working age who have mental well-being
needs, so they can find - or move closer to - work
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