In the latest of a series of blogs about Personal Health Budgets (PHBs), Jonathan Barrow explains why he went from campaigning against them to becoming a staunch advocate:

When I first heard about personal health budgets I wasn’t immediately sold on the idea.

In Basildon, PHBs have become an option for people who use mental health services. I knew that my clinical commissioning group (CCG) was looking to offer mental health services differently, but that means change, and change means potentially taking things away.

In the latest of a series of blogs about Personal Health Budgets, Jonathan Barrow explains why he went from campaigning against them to becoming a staunch advocate:

When I first heard about personal health budgets I wasn’t immediately sold on the idea.

In Basildon, PHBs have become an option for people who use mental health services. I knew that my CCG was looking to offer mental health services differently, but that means change, and change means potentially taking things away.

My instinct as a union man is to suspiciously think: ‘So what are you getting rid of’?

I know that personal health budgets aren’t additional money – to offer someone a budget you need to move money from somewhere else in the system. It’s not a new pot of cash to allow people to treat themselves.

To me that sounded like cutting services and perhaps that would benefit some people but surely other would lose out. I wasn’t keen.

It’s been quite a journey but I’ve really come round to the idea of personal health budgets.

Yes, it’s about change but I can see that there’s a benefit in doing things differently and responding to the individual needs of people, rather than just paying for a service and just hoping that the service offers what each person needs.

People need a whole range of services, treatments and activities to keep them well, so mental health services do need to modernise and be able to offer flexibility and choice.

What keeps people mentally well is more complex than physical wellbeing. So much of it is about your personality, your genetic make-up, your past – the medication isn’t a magic bullet for most people and there aren’t usually simple fixes for mental health problems.

My wife, Deb, and I have started up a user-led peer support project called Sociability, and we’re helping people to find out what they need to ‘recover’ and how their personal health budget can help them achieve that.

Of course, recovery makes it sound simple but anyone with a mental health problem can tell you it isn’t. For most of us our mental health problems aren’t things that are going to clear up like a bout of flu.

I have a long term health condition and while it may not ‘get better’ I have learned ways to deal with it so that I can get on with my life – enjoy life even. Over the years I’ve been referred to plenty of services that didn’t really help – and I’ve had medication that didn’t do much either.

It was only when I got to work with a particular psychologist that I really felt that it was possible to feel differently about life and see some light at the end of the tunnel. They all cost money, so isn’t it better to be more flexible about how that same money can be spent so that it actually makes a difference?

Like everyone else with mental health needs I have resources and assets, I’m not just a diagnosis or a collection of problems. I have skills I can share, and I want to share them.

Of course some of the negative articles in the press in the past few months haven’t helped. The idea that we are all jetting off with our personal health budgets is ridiculous. The budget meets our needs – it’s not about choosing things we’d like as a little treat. I haven’t met one person who has spent their budget in a frivolous way.

The CCG have been really supportive of our project, and we’ve been working in partnership with other great organisations like Rethink. As another provider of support locally we have a lot to offer alongside more mainstream mental health providers.

I still have concerns about making sure these new personal health budgets work. People must still be able to get the help they need, when they need it, and they have to clear, transparent and fair. If someone doesn’t get – or want – a personal health budget we still need to make sure people get the support they need to manage their mental health concerns. I’m going to keep working with my CCG to make sure that happens.

I’ve come round to thinking that maybe change isn’t such a bad thing after all.pending two years shut in his bedroom unable to cope or face the world, too frightened to leave the room.

His long journey back took five years. Along the way he gained a degree with the Open University.

Jon now takes care of his wife but, having a real desire to share his coping skills, he started up a new charitable incorporated organisation for anyone with a health condition that feels they could benefit from peer support.

After just five months in operation Jon received the 2015 Volunteering through Adversity Award from Basildon Council.