Our Crisis care campaign launched in November 2011 with the publication of Listening to experience – a report on the state of crisis mental healthcare services in England and Wales.
On Tuesday 13 March 2012, we took the campaign to the Houses of Parliament to find out if MPs are actually listening to the experiences of people who use crisis mental healthcare services.
It was a ground-breaking event, full of emotion, with powerful testimony from everyone involved in the crisis care debate - crisis care champions, mental health professionals, service providers and MPs.
We couldn’t have done it without the passion and resolve of our crisis care champions – people with direct experience of crisis care services. The response to our call for champions was overwhelming and 45 courageous individuals, from across England and Wales, came to London to tell their stories.
There were uplifting accounts about exemplary practice but also harrowing stories about services that had failed horribly.
Local Minds and other stakeholders such as Black Mental Health UK were also at the event and provided a unique and powerful insight into how they work with their communities and supporters to provide and improve services.
Charles Walker MP, who hosted the event for us in parliament, wrote afterwards:
It really was a very uplifting event – one of the best I have been to since entering Parliament.
We received some wonderful feedback from many of our crisis care champions including this email:
My overriding experience of being a mental health patient is of not being listened to and I did feel listened to yesterday. Thank you so much to Mind for fighting this battle on our behalf.
You can read first hand accounts from people who were at the event right here:
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