"I Statements" for mental health

Like TLAP's 'Making It Real', 'No Assumptions' was co-produced by people with experience of mental health service use and practitioners. The aim was to set out a series of 'I Statements' for mental health to inform a better understanding of integration in mental health, particularly in the context of the Better Care Fund. The sorts of integration people with experience of service use and mental distress talked about went beyond traditional health and social care support. When people live with mental health problems it's about our whole lives, not just clinical services. Like everyone else we want to live ordinary lives but need support to manage our mental health (and stigma) to do so. The 'I Statements' reflect things that everyone would want from support services or in their lives. After a lot of discussion, we decided that things could be summed up in quite simple ways: 'Who I am'; 'How I wish to be supported'; 'What's important to me'; 'How people behave with me'.

What the 'I Statements' and practice examples show is that for people who experience mental health problems, there's more to support than mainstream clinical and crisis interventions. Mental health is about whole people and whole lives. We wanted to get the message across about the importance of being treated as a person and not just a behaviour or diagnosis. Part of that personalisation is recognising and respecting people's own knowledge of their mental health, particularly when it comes to self-management, prevention and crisis. It also means understanding the impact of other life experiences and situations on mental health - like housing, social isolation, relationships, meaningful occupation and discrimination. Having support that can integrate all these aspects of mental health can be challenging. However, we found some excellent examples of innovative practice in the community, on wards, in primary care, housing and criminal justice that demonstrate what can be done if the individual person is put at the centre and the talents and knowledge of service users and creative staff are harnessed and invested in.

Anyone wishing to develop mental health support that meets the challenge of integration and personalisation should consider what people are already doing across the country in response to needs in their communities. In Leeds, People who use services and survivors have been successfully running their own crisis service for years, which means that people can manage crises without having to go to hospital. In Brighton, the LGB&T community is running a mental health and wellbeing service to respond to the particular needs of a group that has found mainstream mental health services inaccessible. In Reading, people whose first language is not English are supported by interpreters to access and express themselves in counselling and psychotherapy. In Newcastle, London and Devon paid peer supporters are using their expertise to support others and to train staff. In London, peers supporters are in GP services to help people with financial and relationship worries that may eventually cause them to have bad mental health problems. Across the country, women with mental health problems are being supported to settle back in the community after being in prison and a user-led project is promoting excellent and innovative practice on mental health wards. From Croydon to Nottingham people who experience mental distress and addiction problems are being supported to recover their lives through meaningful activity and occupation, be it nature, horticulture, arts, cookery or sports.

If there's one thing to take away from this resource, it's the title - 'No Assumptions'. So many assumptions are made about people with mental health problems and the services and support that's thought to help, but often falls short. Hopefully this resource will challenge some of those assumptions and help people to think differently about mental health services - and most importantly, the people that use them.