The West Midlands Mental Health Commission: Open space listening events
On the 31st January 2017 the West Midlands Mental Health Commission Action Plan was launched by Norman Lamb MP. Central to the production of the action plan was the Citizen Inquiry, organised by Shared Future CIC.
Thrive West Midlands set out a series of ambitious actions and pledges the commission has produced with the aim of changing lives in the region. The plan is a priority project for the combined authority and is the result of months of work by the WMCA Mental Health Commission, together with a Citizens Jury of people with personal experience of mental ill health. The question raised for this jury was:
“How can public services be transformed within current spending limits to build wellbeing, keep people mentally well and reduce the impact that poor mental health and wellbeing have on public services, the economy and communities in the West Midlands?“
WMCA also commissioned research into poor mental health and its impact on the public sector – notably by the Health Services Management Centre at the University of Birmingham, in partnership with the Centre for Mental Health.
The joint Citizen Jury on mental health in the West Midlands was conducted the year previous (2016). You can read its report here.
