Case Study
Lanarkshire ‘see me’ Partnership
Building Effective Partnerships
About the initiative
The Lanarkshire ‘see me’ Partnership (the Partnership) was developed as a means of taking forward the ‘see me’ anti-stigma Pledge, signed by 16 local organisations in 2003. The Partnership is used to support joint initiatives between NHS Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire Council, South Lanarkshire Council, the voluntary sector, service-users, carers and the national ‘see me’ team. The Partnership is chaired by Lanarkshire Links, which is a service user and carer organisation. All partners come together to be updated about local and national development, share information, offer support in challenging stigma and promoting mental health and well-being.
Involving ‘see me’
Linking with ‘see me’ was easy. The Partnership shared plans with ‘see me’ , and in turn, ‘see me’ offered support and information to help get established. ‘see me’ helped put a business case together for funding for the Partnership. As ‘see me’ puts a great deal of thought into the development of their campaigns, materials and initiatives, it was obvious locally that close working would mean taking advantage of the learning, free promotional materials and brand images across the different strands (public, young people, work place, friends and family) of the campaign.
The challenge
The right people had to be involved to develop the partnership; service users and carers, voluntary sector, NHS and Local Authorities. We wanted people who had the right connections and also those who could give organisational backing. We included people who work in health promotion, public health, and social work development as well as managers of voluntary sector organisations. We also included people who work in the areas we wished to target, such as Promoting Schools (Children and Young People) and Healthy Working Lives (Workplace). We needed to involve service user and carer representatives in the right way and used involvement guidelines produced by Lanarkshire Links to guide us.
We also needed to think practically about how we could support the partnership such as taking and writing minutes, providing tea and coffee, paying expenses and keeping people informed.
Resources
Using the ‘see me’ Pledge as a lever we got a commitment of money from North and South Lanarkshire Councils and NHS Lanarkshire, to implement a local action plan. ‘see me’ provided access to the wide range of promotional materials available, attended the partnership meetings and would attend important local meetings to promote local and national ‘see me’ activity and encourage and inspire local support.
The partnership enabled us to work in a more planned and co-ordinated way. So we were wasting less time and working more effectively.
What we did
We worked alongside ‘see me’ to deliver a local campaign, working alongside a range of agencies and individuals. The ‘see me’ action plan has been endorsed at strategic level through inclusion in both the North and South Lanarkshire Joint Health Improvement Plans.
Action included: ‘see me’ images and strap lines on 85 bus side and back panels, 18 of NHS Lanarkshire’s vehicles and 12 of Amey Roads North Lanarkshire Ltd vehicles, a media strategy (supported by ‘see me’ and the communication departments of NHS Lanarkshire and partners) to increase positive mental health reporting in local press and radio, and getting Motherwell Football Club on board in May 2005 to sign the ‘see me pledge.
The key ‘see me’ messages have been delivered through workshops, local media, health promotion and ‘elament’, Lanarkshire’s new mental health and well-being website www.lanarkshirementalhealth.org.uk.
Employers
Anti-stigma and discrimination promotional materials have been promoted through staff magazines, staff training, awareness-raising and encouraging and supporting individual participation in campaigns.
Providers of services to individuals
Mental health services in Lanarkshire are being designed and developed based on the values of inclusion and recovery, supported by the Scottish Recovery Network.
Providers of services to communities
The Partnership is integrated with Healthy Working Lives and the Health Promoting Schools programmes to help target specific communities.
Service user and carer involvement underpins multi-agency activity. The use of personal testimony is often used in working with the media and local events and initiatives.
The Lanarkshire Partnership has a network of over 80 people who are monitoring and responding to local and national media for stigmatising reporting and advertising. In addition, all local newspaper editors have received guidelines on accurate reporting of mental health issues
What we learned
- The ‘see me’ campaign brings all of us together.
- It is important to make the message relevant to your target group. Where we work together in an organised fashion we are stronger and more effective.
- In a time where priorities frequently change it is important to adapt but remain committed and organised in challenging stigma.
- The real life experience of mental health problems is most powerful in challenging stigma.
- There is still a great deal to be done.
'see me’ is owned and run by an alliance of five mental health organisations: Highland Users Group; National Schizophrenia Fellowship Scotland; Penumbra; Royal College of Psychiatrists Scottish Division; and Scottish Association for Mental Health. ‘see me’ is fully funded by the Scottish Government.
Published by ‘see me’
1/3 Great Michael House
14 Links Place
Edinburgh
EH6 4EZ
www.seemescotland.org