We see collaboration with other organisations as a key element of our strategy and an intrinsic part of our approach. All of our projects are run in partnership with other organisations.
Often we engage in projects where our expertise around mental health, peer support and non-labelling services complements other organisations’ expertise in education, arts, crafts, environmental issues or work with offenders, refugees, asylum seekers, children and LBGT and BAME communities.
This ranges from formal subcontracting and being subcontracted to ‘quid pro quo’ arrangements including:
- Joint provision
- Sharing resources
- Sharing backroom services
- Skill sharing though providing and receiving training and consultancy
Campaigning and Networking Groups
We are actively engaged with campaigning and other networks including:
- Intervoice – the International Hearing Voices Network- we have recently presented our work at international conferences in Canada, The Netherlands, and the USA; inspiring mental health practitioners in other countries to emulate our work.
- The National Hearing Voices Network recognises us as the lead organisation in the London Hearing Voices Network, and we co-ordinate with them in our work promoting peer support in prisons and Immigration Removal Centres in other regions
- National Mind – we are an active member of the network of local minds and are involved in National Mind’s campaigning and information work
- We are an active member of the Knowledge Quarter, a growing network of over 100 private, voluntary and statutory organisations involved in disseminating and creating knowledge and information in the square mile around London Kings Cross. This is hosted by the British Museum and includes several universities, royal colleges and museums, the Design Council, Google and the Guardian newspaper.
- We are also an active member of the project PERFECT (Pragmatic and Epistemic Role of Factually Erroneous Cognitions and Thoughts) network. This is a large philosophy research network funded by the EU, a significant part of whose work is investigating and challenging the stereotyping stigma and assumptions engendered by psychiatric labels.
Local Partnerships
We are proud to work with many local partners. Much of this work is co-ordinated through the Camden Resilience Network.
The Network is formed of a partnership of voluntary and community sector organisations, Camden and Islington Foundation Trust, Tavistock and Portman, Commissioners and residents. The key aim of the Resilience Network is to provide a network of services that support people in their community to achieve key resilience outcomes.
- Our Healthy Minds Projects partner with several well-known mainstream organisations through sub-contracts for services to our user group including the British Museum, Central and St Martin’s School of Art, The Roundhouse, the National Wildlife Trust and the Mary Ward Centre.
- Our Phoenix Wellbeing and Recovery Service increases the range and variety of choices we can offer our members by working with local community centres, schools, adult education colleges, universities, museums and other voluntary organisations.
- Our Cultural Advocacy Project works with eight local BAME community groups to provide peer support, training to volunteers and staff and a conduit to local statutory and voluntary mental health service providers
- Our Social Prescribing Projects keep extensive databases of information on local facilities and partner with local health provision, including GP surgeries in Camden.
- The Fitzrovia Youth Association sub-contracts us to provide training for the Camden Schools Children and Young People Peer Mentoring scheme.
Wider Partnerships
Our Hearing Voices projects have a wider geographical remit and also provide training and mentoring to build capacity in other organisations to better work with people of all ages who hear voices:
Our Voice Collective Project for young voice hearers has worked with:
- Voluntary sector providers e.g. Anna Freud Centre, ChildLine, Deaf First
- Statutory Child, Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) e.g. Lambeth, Kingston, Croydon, Camden, Tower Hamlets, Basildon, Manchester
- NHS Inpatient and outpatient services e.g. Bethlem Adolescent Unit, Woodland House Adolescent Unit, Snowsfield Adolescent Unit
- NHS Early intervention services e.g. Barking & Dagenham, Hackney, Haringey, Lewisham, Essex
- Schools e.g. High schools, and 6th form colleges in various London Boroughs
- Universities: at Manchester, Birmingham and Durham on various aspects of research and awareness raising around voice hearing.
- Youth services: e.g. Waltham Forest, Haringey Adolescent Outreach Team, Greenwich Youth Offending Team, Haringey Children and Young People’s Service, Newham Youth Offending Team
- BAME and Refugee organisations: e.g. Refugee Council, Malachi Mentoring Service, Baobab Centre, Young Roots and the Red Cross
Our Voices Unlocked Project for detained people who hear voices has set up peer support groups with and trained staff from:
- Mental Health Inreach Teams, safer custody groups and independent monitoring boards in 15 prisons including HMP Pentonville, Wormwood Scrubs, Thameside, Winchester, Whitemoor, Bullingdon, Send, Gartree, Brixton and Bronzefield
- 10 Secure units/hospitals including Kneesworth House Hospital (Hertfordshire), The Hellingly Centre (Sussex), Springfield Hospital (under South West London & St. George’s Mental Health Trust) and Chadwick Lodge (Buckinghamshire)
- The project has developed and maintained strong links with a range of voluntary agencies, including WISH, Southside Partnership’s Beyond Prison, St Mungo’s, Working Chance, SOVA and The Samaritans.
- We have also worked to serve Refugee and Asylum seekers through work with Immigration Removal Centres including Colnbrook IRC, Harmondsworth IRC and Yarl’s Wood IRC
- This project has also engaged with the London Southbank University and Durham University on research and networking issues
