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our history

On 10th October 1992, the World Federation for Mental Health held the first annual World Mental Health Day, the largest mental health education project ever undertaken.

Signifcant interest in this event in Liverpool led to the formation of a group of volunteers, both survivors of mental distress and professionals working in various mental health organisations, who came together to promote a positive understanding of mental health issues. This initiative, jointly funded by Liverpool City Council and the Health Authority, became known as Liverpool Mental Health Awareness Project.

An important principle for this group was collaborative or joint working - anyone interested in mental health was welcome to become involved in this Project, which aimed to challenge the stigma surrounding mental distress and develop mental health awareness.

1992 - 1997

This dynamic group of people raised the profle of mental health in diverse ways, starting with a Mental Health Awareness Week in September 1992, the first of its kind to be held in the city. This included:

• displays of information in libraries and other public places
  
• exhibitions and events celebrating the achievements of those who experience mental distress, through art and photography, music, drama and poetry
  
• media publicity supported by Brookside actor Geoffrey Leesley, whose character John Harrison experienced mental distress
  
• a conference for agencies providing mental health support services ‘to address the concerns, opportunities and achievements of people with mental health problems’, held at Everton Football Club, Goodison Park.

The theme of the week was 'Any One Of Us', and the logo portrayed four faces in profile, to illustrate the statistic that one in four people will experience mental distress at some point in their lives. Following this auspicious start, the Project's steering group continued to meet regularly and plan events around World Mental Health Day each year.

1997 - 2003

In 1997, Liverpool Mental Health Awareness Project evaluated its work and felt there could be more effective ways of promoting mental health. This evaluation drew inspiration from the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, drawn up by the World Health Organisation at an international conference in 1986, which defined health promotion as:

'the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health… (t)o reach a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being'.

Liverpool Mental Health Awareness Project considered ways in which the Ottawa Charter could be applied to the promotion of mental health in Liverpool, and launched the mental health grant scheme, which awarded its first grants in July 1998.

The Small Grants Awards Scheme (as it was originally known) was a ground breaking innovation whereby community groups and organisations were invited to think of a mental health promoting idea and complete an application for funding. The best of these were chosen by a grant allocation panel which, like the steering group, consisted of both survivors of mental distress and mental health professionals.

The committee continued to meet regularly to develop the structure and strategies of the Project, by drafting a constitution, developing a web site and, in 2003, recruiting a part-time development worker dedicated to expanding the scope of the Project's work.

2003 - 2007

The development worker’s role has included:

• a marketing strategy to promote the Project, and the grant scheme in particular
  
• rebranding the organisation as Liverpool Mental Health Awareness (LMHA)
  
• evaluating the efficacy of the mental health grant scheme
  
• networking with a diverse range of
  organisations who had not previously
  considered mental health promotion as an issue relevant to them
  
• securing a commission from the Liverpool Child Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), a partnership between Liverpool City Council and Liverpool Primary Care Trust, to develop a children's mental health promotion service. This involved providing training, information and funding through the
  Mental Health Grant Scheme for projects working with children and young people aged 0-18.

Since its inception in 1992, LMHA has consistently found innovative ways to promote mental health, in particular by funding a diverse range of mental health promotion actitvities which reinforce the message that mental health promotion is everyone’s business.

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