SWAN welcomes the Mental Health Charter, an initiative that emerged from previous
annual conferences and has subsequently developed in discussion with a range of individuals and groups both within and beyond SWAN including service users and practitioners in mental health services.
SWAN endorses the Charter, not as definitive statement but rather as a starting point for discussion and action and a useful campaigning tool for activists to help build alliances of resistance and to contribute to the development of more and better support for those with mental health needs.
Already conferences/workshops based on or including the Charter are planned in Liverpool, Bristol and Oxford and we hope that others will be able to follow this lead.
You can use the SWAN website or email mentalhealthcharter@gmail.com for comment and/or news. We especially welcome endorsements of the Charter from individuals, teams and/or organisations.
At the conference we heard from a boisterous and imaginative campaign to defend mental health services. For more information, and inspiration, go to norfolksuffolkmentalhealthcrisis.org.uk
Please read the full charter attached below.