This year’s mental health conference - New Horizons: A Shared Vision – took place on 17 November at the Holiday Inn in Runcorn and we are pleased to report it was a great success.

New Horizons is the Department of Health’s strategy to promote good mental health and well-being, whilst improving services for people who have mental health problems.  As a key provider of mental health services in the region, Alternative Futures Group is working in partnership with the NHS and other agencies to support the delivery of the strategy in the North West.

• Around one in four people will suffer from a form of mental illness at some point in their lives. • One sixth of the population suffers from a common mental health problem at any time. • 1 in 100 people suffers from a serious mental illness such as psychosis. • More than 1.3 million older people suffer from depression or other mental illness. • 6 million people in Britain have depression and/or anxiety disorders - few get effective treatment. • One in ten mothers suffers from post-natal depression.

Our conference looked back on the successes achieved since AFG’s mental health strategy was launched a year ago and explored how the third sector in particular can provide solutions that enable the national agenda.

Helena Culshaw, AFG Trustee and Board Champion for our mental health services gave the opening address, emphasising the need for a shared vision and partnership working, to strengthen our ability to create better opportunities for the people we support with mental health problems, and help us attain the new horizons.

We were delighted to have Julie Cullen as our keynote speaker. Julie is one of only three people who, under John Boyington, have the responsibility for leading the implementation of the Mental Health Improvement Programme for NHS North West. With an emphasis on engagement with service users, carers and the public as well as building capacity and developing more integrated and sophisticated commissioning, the programme uses a range of tools to achieve its aims. Julie spoke of the importance of collaboration with organisations like AFG and how public networks like Collective Voice can help people to influence commissioning processes and drive improvements. Collective Voice was set up in June through a partnership between Rethink and The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) to provide a way for people to have their say in the improvement of mental health services in the North West. Log on to www.uclan.ac.uk for more information.

Julie Cullen, Implementation Lead, MHIP North West with Tom Cleator, Chairman and Neil Campbell, Chief Executive	Terry Mears, Head of Commissioning for Central Lancashire with Mark Harris, Director of Strategy and Business Development

Another initiative is the ‘PROMiSE’ – not be confused with The AFG Promise. This is a network of third and independent sector providers in the North West which aims to strive for equality alongside the statutory sector, to influence all aspects of mental health service provision and support what users want. Become a member by logging on to www.promisenw.ning.com.

Three conference workshops gave delegates the opportunity to focus on key aspects of AFG’s strategy:

James Williams, Lead Commissioner Social Care Mental Health, Manchester City Council with Lear Rothwell, Business Development Manager and Alan Marshall, Head of Operations	Chris Honey, Mersey Care NHS Trust with Michelle Holding, Clinical Development Specialist

The Conference was attended by a whole range of people, including service users, commissioners, social firms, providers and our own staff. It provided an insight into where we are in terms of the national picture and helped to confirm our vision for the coming year. We have achieved a great deal over the past 12 months but there is still much to do. The conference helped to demonstrate that AFG has the skills, capacity and foresight to continue to play a major role in delivering mental health services that really do enable people to achieve their aspirations and be in control of their lives.