Good Practice Template
What works in mental health?
Use this form to share with others what you are doing locally to improve outcomes for people
experiencing mental health crisis – your positive practice examples.
What is the service / initiative and who it is for?
52 Experts by Experience with lived experience of mental health crisis have been supported to
develop the local Crisis Care Concordat action plan for Sandwell. The action plan will be monitored
by MPs who have experienced mental health services, as part of a new Mental Health People’s
Parliament run by Changing Our Lives.
Changing Our Lives is a rights based organisation located in the Black Country in the West
Midlands, working in co-production with disabled people of all ages to achieve equality, good
health and inclusion.
What was your starting point?
Please describe the problem / challenge you wanted to address or the reason for action
To enable people with lived experience of mental health problems to shape, design, and monitor
services in co-production with commissioners of services that will support people at times of crisis.
What change was introduced and how was this done?
Changing Our Lives were asked to facilitate the drafting of the Crisis Care Concordat for Sandwell,
by Sandwell Council, the CCG and other partners. This involved meetings with 52 people who
currently used Sandwell’s mental health services, over a 6 week period in early 2015. Some people
have since become MPs in the People’s Parliament, and will be monitoring the action plan to
ensure services improve and develop.
The action plan has focussed on providing more community based support for people in crisis,
which was the overwhelming view of the 52 Experts by Experience.
Good Practice Template
What resources were required?
Please describe budget, staffing and skills requirements.
Use of existing resources within Changing Our Lives.
What impact have you had?
Please describe what outcomes you have achieved, evaluation findings and any feedback from
people.
This work is in the early development stages, but early signs are encouraging. The first full
Parliament will meet on 10th July and select committees will take place thereafter monitoring the
action plan.
Lisa Done, one of the new MPs for the People’s Parliament is championing what she calls the
“normalisation of recovery”. Lisa and her colleagues firmly believe that peer led initiatives based in
community settings should be part of the front line in a range of services that support recovery
and enable people’s emotional well-being to thrive.
What challenges did you face and how were these overcome?
Having people with lived experience of mental health crisis write the action plan in co-production
with commissioners and others, is bringing about cultural changes and challenging the existing
balance of power. Changing services and working practices, so people with lived experience are at
the heart of design, delivery and evaluation takes time, so the challenge is keeping everyone
committed to co-production as we are aware we are on a journey that will take many years.
Good Practice Template
How can the change be sustained and spread?
Please describe your future plans and whether the change could be replicated elsewhere.
What have you learned?
Please share any key learning points, top tips, and any 'elephant traps' to avoid.
One of the main areas of learning is around co-production:
Jayne Leeson, CEO of Changing Our Lives said. “Real co-production is time intensive – it is
different from consultation where an opinion is asked, and this opinion can either be accepted or
not. Co-production is about working in an equal partnership with people with lived experience, and
producing an end product which has a positive outcome on people’s lives. The end product might
be a new service, an improved or redesigned service, a new policy, an innovative way of
stimulating the market or a change in working practices. This approach moves away from just
talking with people, to doing with people. This approach is currently working because the right
people are in the right place at the right time. People with lived experience of mental health crisis
are being supported as MPs in the People’s Parliament not only to work in co-production with
commissioners and others, but also to monitor the action plan to ensure real change happens.”
Colin Marsh, Sandwell Council’s lead for the Crisis Care Concordat says, “This is a real opportunity
to listen and learn from people who have used mental health services. To work with them to
design, develop, and commission new services which help when they are in crisis, support to
recover and to enable people to become more resilient to better prevent experiencing crisis in the
future. I am personally really excited about this working partnership and hope that it will provide
us with better mental health services in Sandwell.”
Supporting information
Please forward any relevant documents that you would like to share e.g. project plans, outcomes
data, evaluation reports and publicity material.
Good Practice Template
Lead contact
Please provide the contact details of the person who leads the service / project / initiative.
Name
Jayne Leeson
Job title
Chief Executive, Changing Our Lives
Telephone
0300 302 0770
Email
jayne@changingourlives.org
Website
www.changingourlives.org
Address
22-24 Hagley Mews, Hall Drive, Hagley, West Midlands, DY99LQ
Submission contact
Please provide the contact details of the person completing this submission, if different from the
above named person.
Name
Roger Painter
Job title
Parliament Lead
Telephone
0300 302 0770
Email
roger@changingourlives.org
Website
www.changingourlives.org
Address
22-24 Hagley Mews, Hall Drive, Hagley, West Midlands, DY9 9LQ
Submission date – Please complete
18th June 2015
Return address
Good Practice Template
Please return this completed template, with any related material to the Mental Health Crisis Care
Concordat office crisiscareconcordat@mind.org.uk
With thanks to Mental Health Partnerships for permission to use this template document, originally
designed for http://mentalhealthpartnerships.com