How is Mental Health Support for people with CP Funded

I have had a lot of questions about how accessing mental health support with Disability Plus is funded. I thought I'd share a post that hopefully explains how it works.

DisabilityPlus deliver counselling for adults with conditions including Cerebral Palsy, Spina Bifida, Spinal Cord Injuries, Brittle Bones (OI), Muscular Dystrophy, Vestibular Disorders, pre or post Limb Loss & Chronic Epilepsy as examples. We use counsellors with the same or similar disability, or you can choose a counsellor without your ability but specialises in your counselling.

We, in most circumstances, recommend longer-term counselling, moving away from the short-term solutions commonly offered. There are many reasons for this; however, let's concentrate on free funding in this post.

Over the last 6 years, we have built an excellent relationship with regions of the UK; this relationship has allowed us to apply for NHS funding. This is based on exceptional circumstances; in short, this means why would a person be better suited to a specialist service, why would they gain a better outcome & why are they different to the normal cohort (people) who can use the local mental health service the NHS supply through there GP. There are other criteria that we must satisfy to gain funding for our clients, which we do in most cases.

So, what is the process from your side:

You will then be contacted by us; you will be asked to have an online free session, which is an assessment session.

When completed, we will make an application for NHS funding for you; there is nothing more you need to do; at this point, we have taken over.

We then send your GP a completed application document, including a treatment plan with the session numbers you require based on our expertise. Your GP reads the document, and if he or she agrees, it's sent to the funding panel.

We then must wait for the NHS to approve or decline the application; each application is based on its merits. The normal timescale from assessment to starting the sessions is between 8 and 12 weeks.

Each region has different rules, so we must tailor each application to the NHS region's rules.

Some people would like to start sooner; they self-pay if they can afford it until funding comes in.

It's important to again point out that not every application is approved; it's based on your personal circumstances; however, 90% are approved because we are trusted, and conditions such as cerebral palsy and its complications can generally be proven.