International Mental Health Collaborating Network

Dear Members and Friends of IMHCN

While our network remains active and full of life, the legal structure behind it needs to be renewed. After ten years, the UK charity that was established in 2014 to support our activities officially closed at the end of March. We’re now exploring proposals to set up a new NGO in a different country.

Our CEO, John Jenkins is retiring from IMHCN to focus on “Redefining Horizons: Championing Change by Humanising Mental Health” a new UK campaign launched in 2024. We will keep you informed of developments. Thank you so much John, for all the work you did in establishing, building and supporting IMHCN over many years.

Our colleagues in the Czech Republic have kindly offered to establish an association registered there—while still keeping our international outlook. This proposal will be one of the topics discussed at the upcoming international conference taking place in Gorizia and Nova Gorica (Italy/Slovenia).

As part of the European Capital of Culture 2025 events, the conference “Franco Basaglia Beyond the Borders: Practices of Freedom” will be held from 12–14 November. (See Save the Date below- a full programme will be available soon)

Named after Franco Basaglia—the influential Italian psychiatrist and pioneer of mental health reform who began his work in Gorizia—the event will honour his legacy and explore the current state of mental health reforms across Europe and beyond. Many inspiring initiatives and change-makers will be present, and it will be a fantastic opportunity to reinvigorate and shape the future of the IMHCN.

We warmly invite you to take part and contribute your thoughts to the conversation about the future of our network.

With best wishes,

Roberto Mezzina

Our Call For Transforming Mental Health

Over the last years we have been become increasingly concerned that the Mental Health System in the UK is not working in the best interests of people with mental health issues.

To address these concerns we brought together our partners to identify what is wrong with the present services and practices and to set out solutions. This led to Our Call for Transforming Mental Health in the UK – see full pdf here.

Our Call for Transformation

In this document IMHCN advocates for the development of a Whole Person, Whole Life, Whole System strategic approach to change the culture, thinking and practice of mental health services.

Over the last 60 years mental health services in the UK have undergone significant improvement and development. The Victorian institutions have closed and community services have, in part, replaced them. This was indeed a true paradigm shift in the development of services. The system has changed, but what about thinking, culture and practices?

The in-patient model introduced 60 years ago has become outdated and is not suitable for people today. It has not changed to take into account the different needs and the numbers of people who are in need of crisis support. It is clear that one size and model does not fit all people’s needs and circumstances.

Specifically the structure of hospital services needs to change because:

- There are too many people in acute wards with too many different needs, with some people not needing to be in a locked space, but just needing somewhere to be safe and to recover. This requires a root and branch review of the structure, purpose and culture of current in-patient services across the UK.

- There have been to many incidents of abuse and neglect in in-patient units

- There has not been enough emphasis on developing and strengthening complementary community services to work alongside a redesigned in-patient service.

- There remains an imbalance in budgets and allocation of funding in favour of in-patient care to the detriment of community care.

The focus on a predominantly clinical model has led mental health organisations to under-value or recognise the importance of the social determinants of mental health for many people who use services. This is one key reason why services have failed to address the whole life needs of people, Social determinants of mental health, (WHO, 2014). This is directly connected to why mental health services and practices haven’t addressed the needs of black and ethnic minority communities Race and Mental Health, (Mind, 2022).

Today, we need a different paradigm shift with a new clear community vision. This requires a new way of thinking about the design and development of new community based services for people in crisis and with ongoing issues. This is why IMHCN is launching this Call for Transformation, to challenge and change how people with a mental health issue are helped in a crisis and with their ongoing needs.

Also we need to plan future events that will keep the momentum up in Our Call for Transformation.

This conference will set out the need for fundamental change and demonstrate that there are solutions that exit today in the UK and other countries. We also want to find as many examples of innovative and useful practices and services that can be shared in our networks. Some of these are described in Our Call For Transformation.

This will be the start of a campaign that will require all of us to work together over time to seek a better future for people with mental health needs and finding solutions to the key challenges we have identified.

The campaign is intended as a catalyst for action to be taken by the UK Government, NHS England and Wales, Integrated Care Board’s, the Care Quality Commission, Mental Health Trusts and Boards, Third Sector, Independent Sector

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