Our history

2001
Chief Executives of 13 mental health provider charities start holding regular meetings to network and share knowledge and expertise

2002
The forum of Chief Executives commission a study, the Compass report, which estimates current voluntary sector provision of mental health services at 10% of statutory provision and recommends that the profile and credibility of voluntary sector providers to government and service purchasers

2004
The forum jointly publishes 'Mapping Clinical Governance in Voluntary Sector Organisations' with the National Institute for Mental Health England

2005
The Voluntary Sector Mental Health Providers Forum registered as a company and launched at the 2005 Care Service Improvement Partnership 'Making Partnerships Work' conference.

Judy Weleminsky appointed as the organisation's first Chief Executive

From December 2005 new members accepted

2006 onwards
The MHPF staff team is developed and expanded

2008
The Mental Health Recovery Star, which was piloted in 2007, is ready for launch. Developed by Triangle Consulting with Mental Health Providers Forum, the Star is an innovative outcomes measurement and key-working tool for use within adult mental health services

The Care Pathways Project (previously named Out of Areas Treatment Service Project) is launched. The project is a three year pilot funded by the Department of Health in order to develop a model of independent assessment and to look more holistically at third sector involvement in Care Pathways for returning people to their areas of origin

2009
The 'Evaluating the Effectiveness of Psychological Therapies' initiative is launched. Funded by The Artemis Trust, the initiative will address the question ‘how can you best evaluate the effectiveness of psychological therapies?', in doing so we're considering scientific, philosophical and service user perspectives.

Use of the Recovery Star to support the delivery of recovery focused services is endorsed by the Department of Health's New Horizons programme - with funding to implement use of the Star across 5 Strategic Health Authority (SHA) regions

MHPF is successful in it's bid to the Future Jobs Fund. This funds the development of a new function - supporting member organisations to work with clients to use the Recovery Star for key-working - through the creation of Mental Health Support Staff roles

Our aims
Ultimately, our aim is to improve the range and quality of mental health services that are accessible by working to increase the involvement of the voluntary and community sector in delivering these services. Because of this, we are committed to working in equal partnership with statutory agencies involved in health and social care for people with mental health needs.

MHPF want to ensure that service users have access to joined up, seamless services from the organisations that support them. We facilitate this through supporting and promoting information exchange and the sharing of best practice across the voluntary, statutory and private sectors.

Our Values

A society where everyone with mental health concerns has the right to get the support they need from a wide range of providers, implementing demonstrable values which include:

• respecting service user perspectives, empowerment and choices
• believing in and supporting recovery and social inclusion
• commitment to collaboration, sharing and partnership
• commitment to service excellence, innovation, evidence based practice and continuous improvement
• developing and promoting the unique value based contribution of the voluntary sector

Our Strategic Objectives to 2010

• To challenge, shape and expand the market in line with users' demand and our core values
• To articulate and promote users' concerns about their experience of mental health services
• To produce evidence to support radical change in the system for delivering mental health services
• To drive the development of outcomes focused commissioning
• To strengthen the capacity of the sector and individual organisations to improve service provision
• To become a more diverse network of providers which is recognised as the voice of the voluntary mental health sector