The workshop brought together a wide range of stakeholders including representatives of health and social services, the local voluntary sector and faith groups. The meeting was used to map out an innovative series of events to build local participation in the mental health policy process.

Using learning and experiences from eastern Europe and India, the participatory model of mental health development has never been tried or tested before in the UK and will provide valuable lessons for future grassroots development. A key principle of the work will be the participation of people who have a personal experience of mental health and who have used services. As a minimum, 33% of all participants will be drawn from this group.

Middlesbrough Integrated Mental Health Services and Tees and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust provided the logistical and infrastructure support for the event and are key partners in the ongoing process.

Ray Rowden commented, "..it is exciting to see the possibilities and potential of so many diverse stakeholders from Middlesbrough coming together to design their own forum. There will be important lessons here that will be applicable across the UK. We expect the profile of mental health in Middlesbrough to be raised considerably.."

Given MHID's international perspectives, the organisation will be assisting the Middlesbrough stakeholders with access to wider European and international networks. It is anticipated that the Middlesbrough forum will participate in the MHID international conference on mental health scheduled for April 2007 in India.

To read Paul Cutler's powerpoint presentation to the event, please download the following link.