Why campaign?

Life can be unfair for people affected by severe mental illness. We want to change that.

The way to change things is through campaigning. Through everyone affected speaking out. We do this in lots of ways, for example:

  • meeting decision-makers face to face and helping people affected by severe mental illness to speak directly to political figures
  • supporting people to speak out in the media and campaign locally
  • giving people actions to do like emailing or writing to whoever we want to influence, maybe the Government or a specific company or regulator

Does it work?

People standing up for everyone's rights outside Parliament

Campaigning takes a long time. For example, the Mental Health Bill was proposed 9 years before it became law. But at the end of it all, people with severe mental illness had some important new rights. Now, if you or someone you know  is detained for treatment ('sectioned') for more than 72 hours, you have a right to an independent representative to tell you about your rights and help you make their voice heard.

That only happened because ordinary people put pressure on politicians. And thousands of peope did, through attending meetings in Parliament, writing direct to their MP and speaking out in the national and local media. In the end it's worth it - and it can be fun. Find out about our campaign successes over the years.

Creating a civil rights movement for mental illness

Rethink wants to create a civil rights movement for mental illness. Find out more about why and how this needs to happen. .

Since 2006, Rethink has been campaigning using a civil-rights approach. Other  people have worked in this way and won important victories, for example  the Afro-American civil rights movement, the women's movement and disability rights campaigners. Civil rights historical report (84 kb) [doc]

What are civil rights?

 

How do we decide what to campaign about?

There's an almost endless list of things we want to change about the world for people affected by severe mental illness. To be effective, we have to change a few things at a time. Our Trustes, who include people direclty affected, decide what we campaign on and check that we're being effective. We keep in touch with what the real issues are for people through our 350 services, our National Advice Service, our research and our 8,000 members.

If you want to suggest an idea for a future Rethink campaign, email us. Please quote your membership number if you have one. If you're not a member, why not join us now