St Mungo's Opening doors for homeless people

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At St Mungo's we are committed to helping homeless men and women lead more fulfilling and independent lives and we need your help in raising the funds to implement our solutions. Click here to find out about our £1million Mental Health Appeal.

Contact your MP

As part of our campaign we are asking you to contact your MP and urge them to ensure the Government acts to help break the link between homelessness and mental ill health.

Please use the suggested text below to contact your MP today. Click here to email your MP directly, or find their postal address, through the Parliament website.

St Mungo's Action Week - help us break the link between homelessness and mental ill health

35% of rough sleepers have a diagnosed mental illness but St Mungo's own research suggests that when undiagnosed and emotional mental health problems are included, up to 85% of people on the streets are affected with one or more mental health problems. I don't believe that anyone with a mental illness should be sleeping rough - do you?

St Mungo's, London's leading homelessness organisation, has been opening doors for rough sleepers for the last 40 years. They provide treatment and support to homeless people with mental health problems. However, there is an urgent need for rough sleepers to gain access to specialist mental health services which work with their range of needs.

Please could you write to Phil Hope MP, Minister for Care Services at the Department of Health, and ask him to meet St Mungo's in order to ensure:

• The Government makes an explicit commitment that no-one with a mental illness should be sleeping rough on the streets by 2012 and the Department of Health makes this a clear priority by backing it up with a clear strategy, plan and budget;
• The needs of rough sleepers are explicitly covered in the New Horizons Strategy - the new Department of Health strategy which seeks to improve services for people with mental health problems while also promoting mental well-being in the wider population;
• The New Horizons Strategy recognises that rough sleepers often have multiple and complex health needs, and therefore mental health services should be required to provide treatment to people regardless of whether they have alcohol or drugs problems.

Should you get a reply from Mr Hope, I would very grateful if you could forward it to me.

Yours sincerely

Using the Parliament website to contact your MP

1 - Enter your postcode to find your MP.

2 - Click the link to email your MP, or take a note of their postal address.

3 - Enter your details and the suggested text.

visit our other Action Week '09 pages:

What's on during Action Week

About mental health & homelessness

Happiness Matters to our clients

40 years - our story

40 years - Memories of St Mungo's

How you can help