THE NATIONAL SPIRITUALITY AND MENTAL HEALTH FORUM OPEN MEETING FRIDAY 24TH JUNE 2016

National Spirituality and Mental Health Forum  The Forum has three main objectives to improve spiritual care provision within the statutory services; to enable better connections with mental health services for faith communities, and to collaborate with voluntary sector mental health and spirituality organisations so that we can support and learn from each other. The Forum was created following work exploring the relationship between religion and mental health initiated by Dr Lynne Friedli at the former Health Education Authority (HEA) in the mid-1990s. I was invited to be a member of the HEA working party.

Early years of enquiry 1996 The Department of Health’s HEALTH EDUCATION AUTHORITY invited representatives of the following to join a working party of enquiry into religion and mental heath RETHINK (Formerly The National Schizophrenia Fellowship) CTBI Churches Together in Britain and Ireland Jami The Jewish Association for Mental Illness The Forum was created following work exploring the relationship between religion and mental health initiated by Dr Lynne Friedli at the former Health Education Authority (HEA) in the mid-1990s. I was invited to be a member of the HEA working party.

A spirituality forum After the initial meetings it was decided to call the working group the “Spirituality Forum” and regular meetings were held at the HEA. Decision on conducting a survey of clergy – firstly with Christian and Jewish clergy. Mike Took of NSF led the group’s enquiry. NSF held four conferences 1994 – 1996 on Religion and Mental Illness with participants from Bhuddist, Hindu, Muslim and Jewish faiths. JAMI was jointly involved with the NSF in two of the conferences.

Publication……………………………. Following the result of the survey it was decided to publish a booklet based on the results. The title…………… Promoting Mental Health – The Role of Faith Communities – Jewish and Christian Perspectives. Launched on World Mental Health Day 1999.

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The Demise of the HEA The year 2000 saw the demise of the Health Education Authority and the creation of NIMHE – the National Institute for Mental Health in England. With the closure of the HEA Dr Friedli created Mentality to act as the secretariat for the “Spirituality Group” under the umbrella of the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health. Our meetings continued to be held at the Sainsbury Centre until the end of 2002 The Forum then moved from the Sainsbury Centre under Martin's chairmanship, and continued the regular meetings at various faiths premises and later registered the Forum as a National Charity with the support of the Department of Health. In parallel with the progress of the Forum was the “Spirituality Project” in the NHS which was commenced by Anthony Sheehan then Chief Executive of NIMHE, and the late Peter Gilbert, following the tragic disaster of the Twin Towers in September 2001

Forum and NHS On the demise of NIMHE in 2008, the Department of Health ceased to fund the eight year national spirituality project in the NHS led by Peter Gilbert. However the Forum was successful in obtaining a government grant to administer and continue the Spirituality Project in the NHS for three years until 2012. As well as establishing local networks, during that period the Forum worked to create a regional structure to facilitate communication between the National Forum, Mental Health Trusts and third sector organizations, as well as faith communities. We currently offer four meetings each year in London for teaching and networking but also encourage people to connect to regional meetings taking place where they live. In 2015 we inaugurated the Annual Peter Gilbert Memorial Lecture with well- known speakers in the field of spirituality and mental health. The Forum's website is being reconstructed and will become an interactive facility for subscribing members and provide online resources of previous lectures and articles