Who Should I Vote for?

Your polling card may have arrived and you’re ready to vote but you may be feeling confused. After weeks of campaigning a lot of people are no closer to knowing who to vote for. Twining's Communications Coordinator tries to answer the question.

Encouragingly there has been a lot of campaigning about mental health from all the parties; pledges about improving access to treatment, increasing funding and simply making mental health a priority. The fact that it is being debated and discussed is positive for beating stigma and generating new ideas. Most would agree we’re not there yet but I think we’re moving in a better direction!

As a voter who works in the mental health field, it is tempting just to look at pledges relating to mental health. As important as this is, mental health is not something that sits alone and is unrelated to everything else.

As Londoners we need to think about our mental health in a broader sense- what’s going to improve my wellbeing? The environment, the economy and jobs, welfare, housing and transport are other key areas that can have an impact on wellbeing.

Twining understand this and the direct relationship between work and wellbeing. The right job can have a really positive impact on our health! Twining Advisors often point their clients towards support for issues ranging from housing to welfare- whatever clients feel is having an impact on their overall wellbeing.

So who should I vote for? I’m still working it out but I’ve started looking at it from a broader wellbeing based view. The first part of that is thinking about what issues are going to impact my health, my work and those closest to me. This includes what kind of society I want to live in too. Then viewing what all the parties have to say on these issues. Hopefully that’ll help me decide!

For more on the issues, the BBC has a helpful summary of all the main parties’ policies to get you started.

*Image by Paul Wilkinson, copyright protected