Margaret McCartney: If this was cancer there’d be an outcry—but it’s mental health

A million British volunteers will learn skills in mental health first aid, at a cost of £15m. The government, which is funding the exercise, says that this will improve “personal resilience” and “help people recognise and respond effectively to signs of mental illness in others.”

This will include an online learning module “based on what has been shown to work, so that we can all be better at supporting people experiencing poor mental health.” Public Health England will also work with Mental Health First Aid England to build “on the knowledge and experience of the sector.”1

Theresa May has said that she wants to “use the power of government …