Lively programme for mental health event

With a significant focus on mental healthcare in NHS England’s recently published Next steps on the NHS Five Year Forward View report, and a considerable current Government emphasis on improving existing mental healthcare provision for all, next month’s Design in Mental Health 2017 event should provide plenty to talk about for all those working in, or associated with, this important field. Being held from 16-17 May at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull, the event will feature a topical conference programme, the Network’s annual Awards Dinner, and the chance to see and hear about a wide range of products and services from over 45 companies in the accompanying exhibition. HEJ reports.

The two-day conference programme at Design in Mental Health 2017 – which takes place at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull from 16-17 May (see www.designinmentalhealth.com for full details) –  will begin with a welcome address from DIMHN chair, Jenny Gill, with the first day’s opening keynote then given by Jacqui Dyer MBE, vice-chair of the Mental Health Task Force. With a background in adult mental health commissioning and community and family social work, Jacqui Dyer has worked as an independent health and social care consultant with a wide range of vulnerable care groups, and has been a service-user and carer for the past 25 years. She is currently a senior management board lived experience advisor for the Department of Health’s national ‘Time To Change’ anti-stigma and discrimination campaign, and an appointed member of the Ministerial Advisory Group for Mental Health. Against a backdrop where she says there is ‘an over-representation of black communities in detained mental health services’, her presentation will address the topic, ‘Can better design in mental health help black people thrive?’

Lords speaker a past Trust CEO