Partners
Centre For Mental Health
“We take the lead in challenging policies, systems and society, so that everyone can have better mental health. We do this by building research evidence to create fairer mental health policy. Poverty, injustice and discrimination put some people at a much higher risk of poor mental health – but less likely to receive the right support. By developing mental health research, economic analysis and policy ideas, we’re equipping services and decision makers to meet people’s needs and reduce mental health inequalities. Our work is driving forward sustainable policy change, to pursue equality, social justice and good mental health for all.
Platfform
“For mental health and social change. We work with people who are experiencing challenges with their mental health, and with communities who want to create a greater sense of connection, ownership and wellbeing in the places that they live.”
CHARM
“CHARM advocates for neighbourhood-based, inclusive mental health services that address inequalities and recognise the crucial role of families and social networks. It promotes a holistic, “whole person, whole life” approach that de-pathologizes distress by acknowledging social determinants, calls for the right to continuous, personalised care with choice of a key worker, respects diverse beliefs and spiritualities, and regards psychiatric diagnoses as social constructs rather than biological diseases, all while ensuring full social integration and access to opportunities for every individual.”
Compassionate Mental Health
“Compassionate Mental Health is working with a network of people across the UK and internationally to transform mental health services, and radically change the conversation around mental illness.”
The Unit of Social and Community Psychiatry, Queen Mary University
“The Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry (USCP) conducts research on social interactions (‘what happens between people and social systems’) in mental health care and society as a whole. We are a World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre, the only one specifically for Mental Health Service Development worldwide, and our work includes developing and evaluating innovative interventions.”
Redefining Horizons CIC Board of Directors:
John Jenkins
John has spent his career transforming mental health care as a clinician, manager, policy maker, educator, and international adviser. In the 1970s, he led cultural and service change across hospitals in South Wales, later developing the UK’s first comprehensive community mental health service in Devon, which enabled the closure of three psychiatric institutions. He went on to serve as a senior policy adviser at the Department of Health, establish the Centre for Mental Health Services Development at King’s College London, and pioneer community functional teams at North Birmingham Mental Health Trust that became a national model. As co-founder and Chief Executive of the International Mental Health Collaborating Network (IMHCN), John has advised Ministries of Health in more than ten countries, worked with the World Health Organization in the Balkans and Palestine, and lectured internationally for over four decades, promoting Whole Life–Whole Systems, recovery-oriented, and community-based approaches to mental health.
Mike Smith
Mike Smith is a psychiatric nurse and internationally recognised pioneer in the Hearing Voices Movement. Trained in the 1980s, he challenged the prevailing psychiatric view that auditory experiences were meaningless symptoms of illness, instead advocating collaborative, meaning-focused approaches to voice-hearing. After encountering the work of Marius Romme and Sandra Escher in the early 1990s, he co-authored Working with Voices with voice-hearer Ron Coleman, a practical guide now used worldwide. Named UK Nurse of the Year in 1997, Smith went on to support mental health services in more than 30 countries, promoting compassionate, person-centred practice that bridges professional care and lived experience.
Paul Baker
Paul Baker is a community development specialist, dedicated to transforming mental health systems through recovery- and discovery-oriented, rights-based approaches. Drawing on decades of international experience, he works with communities, practitioners, and organisations to promote whole-life, socially grounded models of wellbeing that move beyond institutional care. His practice emphasises peer support, co-production, and the creation of learning communities—most recently in Manchester and Brazil—aimed at fostering inclusion, empowerment, and meaningful participation for people with lived experience of mental distress.
David McAuley
David McAuley is an experienced NHS mental-health leader with more than two decades of service development, operational, and strategic management experience across mental-health and learning-disability services. Based in Plymouth, he has held senior roles within Livewell Southwest and Plymouth Community Healthcare, following earlier clinical and managerial work in Cornwall. He has also contributed internationally through consultancy for the World Health Organization in Albania and the Palestinian Territories. McAuley’s work is guided by recovery-oriented and whole-systems principles, with a strong interest in service redesign, integrated care, and the development of “Payment by Results” frameworks for mental health—an area in which he has advised the UK Department of Health as a member of its national product review group.
Andrew Nichols
Andrew Nicholls is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Head of Recovery at Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, where he leads work to embed recovery-oriented practice across services. With over 25 years’ experience in clinical psychology and leadership, including as Director of Psychological Services, he combines expertise in cognitive and behavioural therapies with a strong commitment to empowering people and communities to live well beyond illness. His approach emphasises collaboration, wellbeing, and organisational culture change, reflecting a broader shift in mental health care from symptom management to recovery and inclusion.