We Coproduce's New Blog Series - #WeCoBlogs

The brilliant Sarah Yiannoullou and Alison Faulkner have curated guest blogs on the Community Mental Health Framework for We Coproduce.

In 2019 mental health was high on the national agenda; elevated by the review of the Mental Health Act, the high profile campaigning of the Royals, increased media coverage and the publication of the Community Mental Health Framework.

Although the Community Mental Health Framework may have slipped by those who aren't involved in community mental health services, it is probably one of the most important developments in terms of making some immediate impact on the availability and quality of support people will receive.

As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, the framework focused on NHS structures and systems but has bolder value statements and looks beyond the traditional clinical support and care, recognising the importance of social and local solutions.

Twelve pilot sites were tasked with exploring and planning their own local solutions for new mental health services - it was about transforming language and culture and eliminating the gaps and boundaries between services, so that people should experience a seamless local service. A very new way of working.

We Coproduce has closely followed the progression of the Framework over the last two years, from publication and pilot site planning to implementation. Curious about the varied interpretations of ‘a new approach’, We Coproduce invited a number of commentators to share their perspectives of the Framework as it moves into the implementation and roll out phase.

The aim is to start a national conversation that shares a range of experiences and views on some of the key aspects of the Framework such as, transformation, governance, new models of care and place-based and integrated models and, of course, co-production.

Sarah and Alison asked - is the planned transformation happening and what have we learnt?

We are delighted to present this series of blogs to initiate the conversation and welcome others to join us. Here’s how you can join the conversation.

- Find us @wecoproduce on Twitter and/or comment below.

- Use the hashtag #WeCoBlogs to join the conversation.

Meet some of our first blog series authors:

Can you work out who the rest are?

1. Helen Gilburt - Fellow at The King's Fund

2. December 2021 - ?

3. January 2022 - ?

#WeCoBlogs #CMHF #Community #MentalHealth #NHSLongTermPlan #CommunityMentalHealthFramework #BlogSeries