Camden Psychotherapy Unit is an independent charity in Camden which had its entire funding withdrawn in Jan 2012 by Camden NHS and is therefore threatened with closure. We are sending this petition asking for support from anyone who is concerned about loss of psychotherapy services in the public sector. CPU is petitioning the local and central authorities in the NHS to reinstate funding which they have been giving us for 42 years. We are one of the few independent charities providing free psychoanalytically orientated psychotherapy to the local community. Until Dec 2012 the NHS authorities have provided full financial support to us, a recognition of the vital role that this voluntary sector organisation has had in the provision of mental health services to Camden residents. We have been providing short and long term psychotherapy once a week for up to 2 years, seeing between 95 and 115 people a year. We believe that the short sighted view of cutting longer term treatments within the NHS will prove unsustainable and the loss of services such as ours will be regretted and much sought after in the not so distant future. We are appealing for reinstatement of funding and we are confident that the primary care clinicians will want to continue to refer to CPU as they have done over the last 42 years. The 65 GP’s who refer to us annually as well as our patients, consistently testify to that. However, as a result of recent changes to NHS commissioning policies in Camden for mental health services, our entire funding has been withdrawn. This is part of the NHS policy aimed at promoting brief psychological treatments mainly based on cognitive behavioural therapies and on greatly cutting the provisions of longer term psychotherapy. Longer term psychotherapy is fast disappearing from the voluntary and statutory sectors, yet this form of treatment is invaluable to a large number of people with mental health problems. We need to pressure the authorities to recognise that our services are essential for many thousands of patients who need longer term treatment. We call on everyone to preserve the provision of fair and equal access to all treatments to all those who need it, regardless of their social and economic circumstance. In preserving services like CPU we are preserving the ethos that supports provision of fair and equal access to all treatments to all those who need it. Thanks to donations and fundraising efforts CPU can remain open until 2013. This is a crucial year in which CPU is campaigning to remain open. We are urging you to sign this petition to help increase awareness of the potential loss of access to longer term psychotherapy and help prevent the closure of CPU. This petition will be used to add weight to our campaign to be re-commissioned by the NHS North Central London. Thank you for signing it and supporting CPU’s campaign. To keep abreast of CPU’s progress, and if you would kindly consider making a donation to keep the Unit open, please visit www.camdenpsychotherapy.org.uk.