Time to Change, the mental health anti-stigma campaign, is working in partnership with the 2gether NHS Foundation Trust and the Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (NTW), and people with experience of mental health problems, to pilot approaches to tackle stigma and discrimination reported within mental health services.
Working with the Trusts, Time to Change, run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, will focus on bringing together professionals and people who have used mental health services to facilitate an open dialogue about changes that could make a big difference to both people’s experience of mental health services and the experiences of staff. The sessions will highlight positive examples of where mental health staff have challenged stigma and discrimination with the aim of empowering others to do the same.
Evaluation at the beginning and end of the pilot will measure improvements in staff attitudes and behaviour.
The pilot builds on previous work of both Trusts and adopts some of the principles of a dialogue model used in Time to Change’s 300 Voices[1] pilot in Birmingham. A scoping study and roundtable was commissioned by Time to Change in 2014, which brought together 45 experts from different parts of the mental health and wider health and social care sectors to consider what role staff could have in tackling stigma and discrimination. It was also used to understand the complex nature of the discrimination reported by people using mental health services.
Qualitative analysis by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience and the McPin Foundation was also undertaken. Researchers looked at information given by 50 respondents to an earlier annual survey, which asks people who have used secondary mental health services in England about the areas of life where they face discrimination. Analysis showed that people defined discrimination when using mental health services in different ways. Some were examples of staff attitudes and behaviour, some related to access issues and some were about the design of services (i.e. the lack of a recovery focus).
These pilot projects are being informed by the previous scoping study, and each Trust Chief Executive is providing senior leadership on the issue. At the same time as rolling out the dialogue workshops, there will also be additional communications activity linked to a new campaign that is currently being researched and developed in partnership with NHS England.
Sue Baker, Director of Time to Change, said: “Data since 2008 on attitudes and discrimination have shown us that there have been significant improvements in public attitudes and people using mental health services have reported reduced levels of discrimination from their family, friends, neighbours, dating and social life.
“What has remained almost static was the level of discrimination reported in mental health services and other parts of the NHS. We’ve been researching this area, and are now launching two pilots very much in equal partnership with two Trusts and people who have used their services. We know it is important to create a non-judgemental space for open dialogue, where positive examples of staff tackling stigma can be shared as well as an acknowledgement of the many pressures staff face. We also want to see if staff feel more able to talk about their own mental health. Our aim is to bring benefit to people using services as well as staff, and tackle stigma collaboratively with strong leadership to support change. We are delighted to be working with staff at NTW and 2gether on these pilots.”
Shaun Clee, Chief Executive of 2gether NHS Foundation Trust, which provides services in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, said: “At 2gether we have been committed to tackling mental health stigma for some time. The Time to Change initiative offers us further opportunity to reach our aspiration of providing the best service experience for people who use mental health services. As such, we have pledged to lead a series of forums this year, working with our teams to consider the ways we currently impact – either positively or negatively - upon the stigma felt by people who use mental health services.
“The sessions will be attended by staff at all levels of our organisation, and from a wide range of teams and services in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. We will deliver the work alongside people with lived experience of our service, who will be invited to openly share their own experiences of interacting with 2gether staff. Part of the work will be to consider ways in which practice can be enhanced to reduce mental health stigma. To do this, all participants will be invited to share their personal pledge to tackle mental stigma through and in their health care professional practice.”
John Lawlor, Chief Executive of NTW, said: “At NTW we are embracing the opportunity to work with Time to Change to tackle the difficult issue of stigma. Our service users tell us that they experience discrimination, and it’s difficult to hear them say that they encounter stigma in mental health services too. We want to work with local people to understand what it is about mental health services that needs to change, to open up some challenging conversations and evaluate what makes a difference. Our peer support workers are crucial to this and we hugely value their expertise.”
Lisa Rodrigues CBE, voluntary chair of the project working group, said: “Stigma towards those who need mental health support manifests itself in many ways. In particular, the CQC recently highlighted lack of empathy towards those who self-harm or are otherwise in crisis, and low expectations from clinicians about prospects for people who experience serious mental illness.
“But I have high hopes. There is absolute acceptance amongst those involved in this project, and many other mental health professionals, that things need to change. And that instead of simply asking people who work in mental health to be more compassionate, that the change needs to start at the most senior level.”
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For more information please contact Sarah Roberts, Media Officer at Time to Change at [email protected] or call 020 8215 2389 or 07824 341570.
Notes to Editors
** For access to a range of free images to accompany mental health news stories please visit: https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/getthepicture. These images have been developed by the anti-stigma campaign Time to Change, run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, and funded by the Department of Health, Comic Relief and the Big Lottery Fund.
Time to Change
Time to Change is England's most ambitious programme to end the stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health problems. The programme is run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, and funded by the Department of Health, Comic Relief and the Big Lottery Fund.
For more information go to www.time-to-change.org.uk
Department of Health
On 2 February 2011 the Department of Health launched No health without mental health, a cross-government mental health outcomes strategy for people of all ages which has the twin aims of keeping people well and improving their mental health and, when people are not well, improving their outcomes through high-quality services.
The strategy is based on six shared objectives, developed with partners from across the mental health sector, and focuses on recovery and the reduction of stigma and discrimination as overarching themes.
To reduce the stigma faced by people with mental health problems, the Department has been supporting Time to Change, the anti-stigma campaign run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, since 2011.
Comic Relief
Comic Relief is committed to supporting people living with mental health problems. The projects Comic Relief funds ensure people with mental health problems get their voices heard in the decisions that affect their lives and get the help they need to recover. Comic Relief also helps people to promote their rights and reduce the stigma and discrimination they face so that they feel more included in society. The funding of Time to Change represents Comic Relief’s largest UK grant and is part of the organisation’s long standing commitment to this issue. For more information go to www.comicrelief.com.
Big Lottery Fund
Big Lottery Fund supported the first phase of Time to Change with funding of over £20million, and in 2013 awarded the programme a further £3.6m from its Well-being programme to build on its success and work with targeted communities. Big Lottery Fund also supported the campaign’s roll out across Wales. They will be providing a further £1.1m to support the Time to Change campaign in 2015-16.
The Big Lottery Fund supports the aspirations of people who want to make life better for their communities across the UK. We are responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by the National Lottery and invest over £650 million a year in projects big and small in health, education, environment and charitable purposes.
Since June 2004 we have awarded over £6.5billion to projects that make a difference to people and communities in need, from early years intervention to commemorative travel funding for World War Two veterans.
Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £33 billion has been raised and more than 450,000 grants awarded.
[1] 300 Voices pilot works with Young African and Caribbean men, the local mental health trust and police service to improve experiences when accessing mental health care.