The World Mental Health Report: transforming mental health for all

Abstract

391 service delivery. Peer-led service providers have an advantage in comparison with other professional services, through having lived experience and practical knowledge of navigating mental health related services and processes, and therefore being in a better position to understand the vulnerabilities and associated needs of peers. Hopefully, the new report’s explicit reference to the value of including peer-led services will encourage governments to invest in the inclusion of lived experience service providers into the mental health workforce. Alongside the evidence-based content and showcasing of best practices, the lived experience narratives from diverse geographical contexts make the report powerful and give a clear message to policy makers that we (people with lived experience) are not silent voices anymore, that we claim our right to speak and share our realities and can contribute practical solutions towards improved mental health care and services for everyone. We are ready to partner and to create change together. We hope that the lived experience contributions in the report will generate encouragement among governments to authentically and meaningfully involve people with lived experience from the planning to the implementation phase of all new developments in the mental health field. Equally important is for people with lived experience to be integrated within the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms of interventions and service delivery, as well as assessing compliance with local and international human rights instruments. Going forward, for governments to truly commit to the inclusion of persons with lived experience and their representative organizations, it should be well noted that authentic and meaningful inclusion can only happen when these persons are involved from the very start and not as an afterthought. At the same time, it is critical to consider diversity (gender, race, age groups; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning) when engaging and working with people with lived experience, to ensure that all population groups are able to voice their specific concerns, needs and recommendations. In conclusion, the launch of the new World Mental Health Report is an exciting moment and represents a welcome step towards pushing mental health to become a truly global priority, making mental health everyone’s business. At the very same time, we need to forge a link between mental health, social justice and human rights as an intertwined approach towards successfully implementing the recommendations of the report.

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Affiliated Institutions

• Stellenbosch University ZA

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