Stigma and discrimination

We target this area because in all our survey work service users and carers tell us that addressing stigma and discrimination is their top priority. Improving public understanding of mental health issues would have a positive direct impact on the quality of life of people living with mental health problems.

Completed studies

For the past 4 years we have been working with the Institute of Psychiatry on projects to build an evidence base. A number of publications have resulted from this collaboration.

  • Reducing Stigma and Discrimination: What Works? (709 kb) [pdf]: – This report showcases examples of best practice of anti-discrimination projects in mental health. These were presented at the Rethink / Institute of Psychiatry conference held in Birmingham, 2003. Click here to read the full report.
  • How Can We Make Mental Health Education Work? (236 kb) [pdf] – This report was written to provide an overview of steps one may consider when setting up an anti-discrimination programme, and to discuss the success of one such project in Kent. Click here to read the full report.

Jointly with Mental Health Media and mentality we produced a summary of the evidence for the National Institute of Mental Health England. This work has informed the English anti-discrimination campaign called Shift[www].

Our work addressing stigma and discrimination cuts across all of our activities – service delivery, campaigning, policy development. We have worked in collaboration with a number of other organizations in recent years to extend the evidence base of ‘what works’ in this area.

Current projects

We are currently undertaking research with the Institute of Psychiatry working with medical school students and trainee psychiatrists. The project is called ASTEC (Anti-Stigma Training and Evaluation Collaboration) and is in year one of 3 years, currently piloting an intervention to deliver to students and developing an assessment tool to measure the impact of anti-discrimination training.

Useful contacts for work on stigma and discrimination

  • Open Up [www] - a project run by Mental Health Media, to support service users to undertake effective anti-discrimination activities. 
  • Like Minds [www] - the New Zealand national anti-discrimination programme.
  • Open the Doors [www] - an international initiative to fight stigma and discrimination because of schizophrenia hosted by The World Psychiatric Association.
  • Shift [www] - the English national anti-discrimination programme. 
  • See Me [www] - the Scottish national anti-discrimination programme.