This October, the Mental Health Law Department and People Participation service joined together to launch the Mental Health Law Forum.  The Mental Health Law Forum was set up to support people linked to the Trust to understand the law surrounding mental health. For many of us, this can be extremely confusing!

The Forum is designed to be a safe space for all, where people can learn and become more confident in understanding the law surrounding mental health. Topics that have already been covered range from understanding the law surrounding formal admission, to what powers do relatives and carers have when someone they care for is detained under the Mental Health Act.

The forum is split into two groups. One for service users and staff, and another one for carers and nearest relatives.

Dates of next meetings are: TBC – March 2023

David Markovitch from the Mental Health Law Department said “We are so excited about this Forum in collaboration with People Participation. The idea behind the Forum is to engage all stakeholders to improve knowledge of Mental Health Law, and ensure service users, staff, relatives and carers are involved with legislative change occurs. We are excited for new members to join, and look forward to positive engagement moving forwards.”

Jakob Whiten Service User and Host of the Mental Health Law Forum said: ‘As a Service User, this forum gives both groups a chance to come together to learn about current mental health law legislation and how that impacts service users.

We would love it if you could join us for the next meeting or if you had a topic in mind you would like covered. You can contact us on ‘Mental Health law Department e-mail’.