Whether you lead a local or national charity providing services to people with mental health needs, you have a lot to gain and contribute by joining the Mental Health Providers Forum.

You'll be adding your voice to a growing network of voluntary sector providers committed to making a real difference to how services across England are delivered.

And through access to our networks, resources and expertise, we aim to increase the impact of your organisation in the rapidly changing health and social care environment that we operate within.

• Influence policy - involvement in decision-making groups, working parties and dialogue with government departments
• Information and guidance - seminars and events giving access to discussions with high profile speakers, and regular briefings covering relevant topics from practitioners, experts and decision-makers to improve your policies and practice
• Networking and learning and development opportunities - a yearly national conference and series of seminars focusing on developments in mental health alongside the opportunity to benchmark your organisation’s performance against voluntary sectors providers, and share good practice that is developed and disseminated across the membership

• Opportunity for collaborative working - a focus on the development of relationships across the membership and with external parties in order to stimulate and capture opportunities which promote service delivery by our members

Our focus is on improving mental health services for the people who use them. We will ensure that the experience and concerns of service providers and service users are communicatied to policy makers to achieve this. For other agencies providing health and social care, the Mental Health Providers Forum will offer a coherent, authoritive voice for the voluntary sector and a source of expertise on improving service delivery.

At a time when mental health services are changing the Forum has a unique role to play in shaping the future of services for people with mental health needs. By expanding the Forum's membership and its activities, it will become a truly representative voice for voluntary sector providers of mental health services.