International human rights instruments call for equality and recognition of the value of all people, including people with psychosocial disabilities and mental health conditions, towards advancing socio-economic and sustainable development.

International strategies and related documents emphasise the same by acknowledging the importance of placing people with lived experience of mental health conditions at the centre of policy and practice, thereby ensuring that people with lived experience and their representative organisations are meaningfully and authentically included in engagement and the decision-making processes.

The GMHPN is an international peer-led organisation which aligns its work on the evidence of the value (both experiential and monetary) of lived experience integration in research, policy, service development and delivery, stigma reduction, and training of healthcare professionals, of which the benefits are evident on multiple levels.

It focuses on building capacity among people with lived experience of a mental health condition through empowerment, peer-to-peer mentorship and peer support.

Speaker:
Charlene Sunkel
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Global Mental Health Peer Network