All the Welsh parties have now published their manifestos and we’re pleased to see strong alignment with our own asks.

Plaid Cymru’s manifesto was launched last week and provided clear commitments to counselling, and we have seen similar positive statements from the other parties.

Welsh Labour has pledged to improve access to psychological therapies for children and adults, to increase the range of therapies available and to deliver a significant reduction in waiting times. These pledges closely align to our manifesto asks.

They have also promised to improve children and young persons’ mental health services, improve access to CAMHS as well as promote a whole school approach to mental health.

Parity of esteem

The Welsh Green Party have adopted our policy to ensure that everyone who needs it can access therapies, including counselling, within 28 days as well as reflecting our call for parity of esteem.

The Welsh Greens also intend to ensure tailored provision is readily available for the particular needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex, Queer and Asexual (LGBTIQA+) and Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities, children and adolescents, and older people.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats aim to provide urgent additional funding for mental health through a 1p rise in income tax.

They want to introduce improved access and waiting times for counselling, psychotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy in Wales, which reflects our core manifesto asks.

The Welsh Lib Dems also pledge greater support for children and young people by ensuring that schools in Wales are resourced to provide immediate access for pupil support and counselling.

The Welsh Conservatives also reflected our call for parity of esteem and aim to “transform mental health” by treating it with the same urgency as physical health, although, like the UK manifesto, they provide no further clarity on how this will be achieved.

Commitments

Steve Mulligan, our Four Nations Lead, said: “We’re delighted to see clear commitments to our pledges across each of the manifestos in Wales and strong support for counselling.

“It’s particularly pleasing that Labour, the governing party in Wales, have adopted our call to improve access and choice to the full range of psychological therapies.

“We hope to see this translate to action on the ground as too many people in Wales are waiting too long to access the counselling support they urgently need.”

We’ve contacted all parties across the UK with our key manifesto asks. They have been published as part of our new dedicated election web pages.

The web pages include information on what you can do to engage your local General Election candidates to help us protect and promote counselling across the country.

This includes some handy guides, alongside questions that you can put to your election candidate, either in writing or if they knock on your door.

And if you are on social media, use the hashtag #StandUpForCounselling to join in the conversation and see what fellow members are saying.