Why do people with mental health conditions die 15-20 years earlier than people without? Why is GBP100 million spent every year placing patients far from their homes? How did the question, 'What matters to you?' transform mental health care in Norway? We live in a country in which community is fading, inequality is growing, and discrimination is still far too common. At the same time, services dedicated to our wellbeing and mental health can feel less than human - ignoring or even adding to this growing crisis. Sir Norman Lamb - former Health Minister, NHS trust chair, and dedicated mental health campaigner - has seen the cracks in the system up close. In this book, he sets out to answer the questions above, and many others, uncovering the real reasons why our mental health services are failing. In its pages you'll read eye-opening stories from patients who have been let down, but you will also hear inspiring tales from trailblazers who are shaking things up with creative, community-first solutions. Sir Norman is clear - we need a mental health revolution - but what can we do to create mental health care which is more human?
Sir Norman Lamb is the Chair of the Maudsley Hospital and is an active campaigner on mental health. He was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for North Norfolk from 2001 to 2019 and was Minister of State for Care and Support at the Department of Health from 2012 to 2015. He was the Chair of South London and Maudsley Foundation Trust, a specialist Mental Health Trust, from 2019 until 2025. In 2019, Norman received a knighthood for his services to mental health.
A groundbreaking examination of mental health care - with stories from patients, practitioners and reformers that reveal both systemic failures and paths to change
This book is about how people experience the fragmented, inhuman, and so often harmful mental health services in the UK. True and painful stories of real people will utterly convince you that we cannot go on doing this. And alternatives do exist! This highly recommended book will show you some of the foundations we need to restore the humanity, compassion and the common care all too often absentfrom mental health services today. A must-read for anyone anywhere near mental health services! -- Professor Tim Kendall CBE Compelling and compassionate, holistic and humane, Sir Norman Lamb's book is an informed and impassioned call for change in how we treat mental health. -- Dr Sian Williams, Chartered Counselling Psychologist, Broadcaster and Author of The Power of Anxiety Exceptional...compelling and compassionate. As a father to a profoundly autistic daughter and a 6'4 black man with experiences in mental health institutions, some sections were tough to read. But the book is full of hope and possibility for different, more human solutions. -- Clarke Carlisle, former Premier League footballer and mental health campaigner Having been a passionate mental health campaigner for nearly 40 years, I feel this book adds a much-needed, respected voice. For too long, we have relegated the importance of mental health and resilience in childhood to the realms of schools and charities. As Norman so rightly attests, instead of just stigmatizing and medicalizing, we need to start creating innovative ways to build resilience and prevent mental ill health in the young. Norman's book is a must read. -- Trisha Goddard, mental health campaigner and broadcast journalist Norman Lamb asks all the right questions about mental health provision in this country because he has lived the problems that exist. -- Mark Austin, Chief Presenter at Sky News
