Engagement and networking

Working together is critical to addressing the building blocks of mental health.  

Taking a ‘whole system’ approach to public mental health means dealing with complexity. Likewise, aiming to stop mental health problems from developing in the first place (primary prevention) means finding solutions by considering the many factors that affect people’s lives. Both these ideas require working across policy areas and collaborating across organisations. 

This approach is needed for several reasons. To understand the system and the opportunities for action that exist within it, bringing together a wide range of knowledge is essential. This knowledge is needed to identify effective and impactful actions.

Finally, the people and organisations who can take these actions need to be involved from the start to develop the will and build the capacity to act. 

Stakeholders from the public, private and third sector all have an essential role to play. But involving communities and people with lived experience is critical as well. This provides insight that cannot be obtained any other way and helps to ensure that action is shaped around people’s needs.  

We are working to create opportunities for engagement, networking and collaboration in several ways: 

1. Workshops linked to programme activities. For example, we held a workshop on ‘young people, mental health and economic inactivity’ in March 2025 
2. A Knowledge Hub (in development) 
3. Connections with various organisations as our work develops 
4. Communications directly to relevant stakeholders