Innovatory features and challenges facing mental health user-led organisations

Melanie Boyce; Carol Munn-Giddings; Lesley Smith; Sarah Campbell

doi:10.5042/mhrj.2010.0370

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Mental Health Review Journal

ISSN: 1361-9322

Online from: 1996

Subject Area: Health and Social Care

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Innovatory features and challenges facing mental health user-led organisations

Document Information:
Title:	Innovatory features and challenges facing mental health user-led organisations
Author(s):	Melanie Boyce, (Research Associate, Anglia Ruskin University), Carol Munn-Giddings, (Participatory Inquiry and Collaborative Practice, Anglia Ruskin University), Lesley Smith, Sarah Campbell, (Research Associate, University of Manchester)
Citation:	Melanie Boyce, Carol Munn-Giddings, Lesley Smith, Sarah Campbell, (2010) "Innovatory features and challenges facing mental health user-led organisations", Mental Health Review Journal, Vol. 15 Iss: 2, pp.34 - 42
Keywords:	Mental health, Service user, User-led organisations
Article type:	General review
DOI:	10.5042/mhrj.2010.0370 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Abstract:	Despite the recent growing interest in user-led organisations (ULOs), they remain an under-researched area of volunteer sector activity, with the majority of the literature emanating from North America. This article attempts to redress this imbalance by reporting on the innovatory features and challenges facing mental health ULOs in England, particularly in light of recent government policy prioritising generic pandisability ULOs. In-depth qualitative interviews were undertaken with a purposive sample of 48 service users and staff from four geographically dispersed mental health ULOs in England. Innovatory features identified by staff running and service users attending mental health ULOs were: being user-led; their non-hierarchical organisational structures; and community-inclusive activities. The challenges identified were: maintaining a user-led ethos; managing the tension between being user-led or user-managed; and relationships with funders. Recent policies that recognise and promote the development of ULOs are encouraging, although the emphasis on generic, pan-disability ULOs may impede the innovatory ethos and development of mental health ULOs.