ABSTRACT
The Mental Health Promotion Alliance for Merton Sutton and Wandsworth has been working to establish a positive mental health strategy for all three boroughs included in the MSW Health Authority’s catchment area. The task for the Alliance is to work with various organisations and groups in the three boroughs to facilitate a broad brush strategy that can establish mental health promotion as a central component of a “health action initiative”.
Much of our effort focuses upon developing programmes that increase the resilience of individuals, groups and communities and reduce those ‘noxious’ features that impair or jeopardise mental health. To do this we plan to work systemically with seven key institutional structures: education, employment, the environment, health, housing, leisure and the media.
The broad outline of this programme first was outlined in a “pre-strategy statement” - a message of intent which has received the support from all three borough focused Mental Health Strategy groups in Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth, as well as the broad support of the Health Authority and the three Local Authorities. Putting flesh on this statement of intent is the task of five key working groups we have setup, targeting one or other of the institutional structures in the pre-strategy statement [health, education, employment, environment and leisure, and the media]. The work of these groups will be described to illustrate one way of “selling” mental health promotion.
