Mental Health Europe – Promoting the rights of persons with mental health problems and psychosocial disabilities

ongoing

From 2026 to 2028, Mental Health Europe (MHE) will implement a programme to protect the rights of persons with psychosocial disabilities, promote mental health, and advance social inclusion across Europe. MHE connects 72 member organisations in 30 countries, fostering learning, capacity-building, and alignment between EU and national policies. Rooted in the UNCRPD and the European Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, MHE uses co-creation with experts by experience, policymakers, professionals, and civil society to ensure rights-based, needs-driven solutions. The programme includes five work packages plus ad hoc initiatives. WP1 ensures governance, strategic alignment, and organisational review. Its governance includes a General Assembly, elected Board, senior policy advisers, thematic working groups, and new in this programme: a Lived Experience Council to strengthen the role of lived expertise in the organisation’s decision-making. WP2 influences EU policy, monitors UNCRPD implementation, and contributes to frameworks like the European Pillar of Social Rights. It includes the EU Mental Health Policy Hub, the 2027 EU Mental Health Summit, and a 2028 EU Elections Manifesto. WP3 gathers evidence via surveys, studies, and good-practice mapping. WP4 strengthens member capacity through support, workshops, co-creation training, and exchanges. WP5 combines newsletters, reports, social media, and creative campaigns, amplified through European Mental Health Week and other events. Ad hoc initiatives will give MHE agility to respond to emerging opportunities, from piloting the EU Mental Health Summit to launching innovative outreach campaigns. By 2028, MHE will have strengthened EU mental health policy, embedding rights-based, psychosocial, and community-focused approaches, advancing deinstitutionalisation, and expanding alternatives to coercion. The network will be stronger, more connected, and influential, supporting a Europe where all people have access t