Improving the lives of those experiencing mental health problems

Policies, strategies, frameworks and reviews relating to improving the quality of life of those experiencing common mental health problems and mental illness include:

Delivering for mental health [external site]
(2006)
A report that considers recovery-focused service provision, where the starting point is learning from and applying the lived experience of recovery in practice.

The Disability Equality Duty [external site]
(2006)
The Duty puts the onus on public bodies to introduce ‘policies that actively promote opportunities and so prevent discrimination taking place’.

The Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 [external site]
(2003)
Alongside the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 [external site], the Act makes it easier to protect those with mental illness from discrimination.

Peer support [external site]
Peer working is a way of making recovery real in mental health services. Peer support workers are trained and employed to support other people in recovery. To be a peer support worker, you must have your own recovery experience.

Rights, Relationships and Recovery: The Report of the National Review of Mental Health Nursing in Scotland [external site]
(2006)
A report that takes a holistic approach to recovery-focused service provision.

see me... [external link]
‘See me’ is Scotland’s national campaign to end the stigma and discrimination faced by those who experience mental ill-health, and those who care for and support them.

Its vision is:

  • to improve public understanding, attitudes and behaviours so that the stigma and discrimination associated with mental ill-health is eliminated
  • to enhance the ability of people to challenge stigma and discrimination
  • to ensure that all organisations value and include people with mental health problems and those who support them
  • to improve media reporting of mental ill-health.

SUPPORT Project: Stigma, social exclusion and mental health [external site]
The European Pact for Mental Health and Well-being covers five thematic areas in mental health. Within these, common horizontal threads ensure comparability and compatibility between actions.

Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP) [external site]
Wellness Recovery Action Planning is a 'self-management' tool used in many countries around the world to help individuals take more control over their own wellbeing and recovery. It emphasises that people are the experts in their own experience and is based on the premise there are no limits to recovery.

For more information on the work carried out by the Scottish Recovery Network around raising the awareness of recovery from mental health problems, visit the Scottish Recovery Network website [external site].

With Inclusion in Mind [external site]
(2007)
With Inclusion in Mind provides guidance relating to the duties placed on local authorities by Sections 25–31 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.

These policy ambitions are being realised through a new way of working and an emphasis on attitudes and values. Several tools and guides have been developed as a result, including: