In England, a collaborative effort has been launched by three major mental health charities - Mental Health Media, Mind, Rethink and will be evaluated by the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College in London. The effort is funded by the English public, through the National Lottery Fund and Comic Relief, who have made this vital work possible. Their mission is to inspire people to work together to end the discrimination surrounding mental health. The project is funded with £16m from the Big Lottery Fund and £2m from Comic Relief, and evaluated by the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College, London. The project features local community projects, a national high-profile campaign, a mass-participation physical activity week, legal test cases, training for student doctors and teacher, and a network of grassroots activists combating discrimination.
Time to Change is England’s biggest ever attempt to end stigma and discrimination and improve well-being. The program will measure their success by evaluating their impact on the experience people actually have of discrimination, with the aims of:
1.) Creating a 5% positive shift in public attitudes towards mental health problems
2.) Achieving a 5% reduction in discrimination by 2012
3.) Increasing the ability of 100,000 people with mental health problems to address discrimination
4.) Engaging over 250,000 people in physical activity
5.) Producing a powerful evidence base of what works
It will be interesting to follow this project and monitor its results. Stakeholders in the U.S. and other countries could potentially use such a model in the future for a major national public education campaign.
Please visit their channel at www.youtube.com/user/ttcnow2008 and visit the Time to Change website at www.time-to-change.org.uk
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