Reflections on the implementation of the Mental Health Implementation Network

The MHIN was established in 2020 and includes services users, local communities, health and care providers, commissioners and a wide range of local and national stakeholders. It is one of seven NIHR Applied Research Collaboration national priority areas in applied health and care research funded to deliver, real world impact.  The MHIN includes an implementation team who brought practical, hands-on expertise of leading national implementation projects outside of academia. They played a significant role supporting MHIN colleagues in shaping and steering the overall MHIN programme.

The implementation team consisted of Zoe Lelliott, a joint deputy director of ARC South London (and previous interim CEO of Health Innovation Network South London), Sarah Robinson, the implementation lead for ARC East of England (and director of delivery for Health Innovation East) and Afra Kelsall, a senior advisor from Health Innovation East (with previous experience at the Care Quality Commission and NHS England).

At the end of the first three-year funding phase, the implementation team have produced some reflections on the Network which include:

• A blog - Practical lessons and reflections on the challenges of implementing mental health interventions at scale
• A summary - Reflections on an Academic Implementation Network: Contributions from (the real world) implementation team
• A report - If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together – a practical example of setting up and convening a new community of practice. 

Find out more

Read about the Mental Health Implementation Network