Theresa May's pledged to end the practice of holding people detained under the mental health act in police cells.
She said in the last year alone 4,000 mentally ill people were locked up because officers had no other option.
"Today I can announce that the Government will provide the bed and the funding that is needed to stop that happening," she said.
"This will mean up to £15 million of new funding to deliver health-based places of safety in England and a guarantee from this Government that no person with mental health problems will be detained by the police due to the lack of a suitable alternative.
"The right place for a person suffering a mental health crisis is a bed, not a police cell. And the right people to look after them are medically trained professionals, not police officers."
But Pastor Joe Hayes, the author of a book on mental health, told Premier's News Hour: "The NHS is perhaps already over-stretched and to be given £15million, although sounds good, is just adding to the burden that they already have of trying to keep the NHS functioning.
"I like so many pastors and ministers encounter on a regular basis people with mental health issues coming into our churches.
"Perhaps they're falling through the system."
Pastor Joe Hayes speaking to Premier's Hannah Tooley on the News Hour: