ABSTRACT
Millions of lives are destroyed by the stigma of mental illness with discrimination occurring at every level of society and in all professions. The National Institute for Mental Health (in England) was established to support health and social care communities to develop their services, in line with the vision outlined in the National Service Framework for Mental Health. Although a national organisation, NIMHE was particularly structured to help achieve national policy by focusing on local solutions, through its eight regionally based development centres. It was the MIND (National Campaign for Mental Health) that did much to drive the changes in mental health treatment in the 1960s. The rise of the effective user movement can be traced to the MIND conference at Brighton in 1985. MIND has become the leading user organisation, while Rethink reflects the views of many carers as well as sufferers.
