Mental Health Promotion Strategies

Country Examples:
The following links provide examples of the different approaches to developing mental health promotion strategies adopted both in different EU member states and worldwide.  EMIP welcomes further examples of mental health promotion/prevention strategies and action plans.  Please contact us if you would like us to include your strategy on the website.

United Kingdom
-Scotland
The ‘National Programme for Improving the Mental Health and Well-being of the Scottish Population’ is an example of a strategic approach to public mental health and one that gives emphasis to the importance of achieving and maintaining positive mental health and well-being

-England
England is one of the only member states where the development and delivery of local mental health promotion strategies is mandatory.  The requirement to ‘promote mental health for all’ was first set out in National Service Framework for Mental Health in 1999 and has since been reinforced in the public health white paper Choosing Health .
A national framework and guidelines on the delivery of mental health promotion Making it possible: improving mental health and well-being in England was published in 2005.

Northern Ireland
Promoting mental health. Strategy and action plan 2003-2008 outlines 30 actions relating to policy development, raising awareness and reducing discrimination, improving knowledge and skills and preventing suicide/  The focus is on an integrated approach which addresses the wider determinants of mental health and reducing inequalities.

Ireland
An example of a local strategy is the North Western Health Board Mental Health Promotion Strategy and Action Plan 2005-2010, which aims both to improve mental health and well-being and to promote social inclusion.

New Zealand
In New Zealand, ‘Building on Strengths’, a comprehensive national mental health promotion policy, sets out the vision, values, principles, goals, priority actions and outcomes to be achieved across many different sectors, not just health.
Building on Strengths. A Mental Health Promotion Strategy. Ministry of Health, New Zealand. December 2002.

Australia
In the National Mental Health Plan 2003-2008, four priority themes are addressed through 34 outcomes. These themes emphasise mental health promotion and prevention, increasing responsiveness to consumers and carers across all mental health and related services, strengthening quality, and fostering research and innovation across the sector for sustainable programs and services.