Rethink Mental Illness
 |
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| Founded | 1972 |
|---|---|
| Type | Charity |
| Registration no. | 271028 |
| Focus | Mental disorder |
| Location |
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Area served
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UK |
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Key people
|
CEO Mark Winstanley |
|
Revenue
|
£39m (2015) |
| Slogan | Challenging attitudes, changing lives |
| Mission | to help |
| Website | www |
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Formerly called
|
National Schizophrenia Fellowship; Rethink |
Rethink Mental Illness is a mental health charity in England. The organisation was founded in 1972 by relatives of people diagnosed with schizophrenia, following an article by a journalist whose son had been diagnosed. The operating name of 'Rethink' was adopted in 2002, and expanded to 'Rethink' Mental Illness' (to be more self-explanatory) in 2011, but the charity remains registered as the National Schizophrenia Fellowship, although it no longer focuses only on schizophrenia.
Rethink Mental Illness now has over 8,300 members, who receive a regular magazine called Your Voice. The charity states that it helps 48,000 people every year, and is for caregivers as well as those with a mental disorders. It provides services (mainly community support, including supported housing projects), support groups, and information through a helpline and publications. The Rethink Mental Illness website receives almost 300,000 visitors every year. Rethink Mental Illness carries out some survey research which informs both their own and national mental health policy, and it actively campaigns against stigma and for change through greater awareness and understanding. It is a member organisation of EUFAMI, the European Federation of Families of People with Mental Illness.
Mark Winstanley is the chief executive. He succeeded Paul Jenkins in March 2014.
Rethink Mental Illness was instrumental in promoting the new early psychosis paradigm in 1995 when they linked with an early psychosis network in the West Midlands, called IRIS (Initiative to reduce impact of schizophrenia). This then led to the Early Psychosis Declaration by the World Health Organization and the subsequent formation of early psychosis services as part of mainstream health policy.
Amongst its recent campaigns Rethink has urged the government to look at the mental health risks of cannabis, rather than "fiddle with its legal status". Cannabis was downgraded from a Class B to a Class C drug in 2004, making most cases of possession non-arrestable. However, Rethink wants government support for new research into the relationship between severe mental illness and cannabis. They have publicly stated, in response to George Michael's advocacy of the drug, that cannabis is the drug "most likely to cause mental illness".
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Wikipedia