Funded by the NIHR as one of the seven ARC National Research Priority areas, the Mental Health Implementation Network (MHIN) was led by ARC South London working closely with NIHR ARC East of England.
The Network engaged with service users, local communities, health and care providers, commissioners and a wide range of regional and national stakeholders to deliver evidence-based service change. All of the projects supported by the MHIN focused on improving mental health across the life course by catalysing and evaluating high-impact interventions at key stages in regional and national services.
The original three-year grant was extended in 2024-25. During this extension phase, the programme focused on capacity building, evaluating sustainability and scaling up to other areas or regions.
Aims of MHIN research
The network’s objectives were to:
- Create a national collaboration between key multidisciplinary stakeholders across government, health services, the third sector, universities, Applied Research Collaborations, Academic Health Science Networks, and service users and the public, to work together to catalyse implementation of effective mental health interventions
- Work together to identify and prioritise areas of mental health services that require improvement to meet individual and system needs
- Identify evidence-based solutions to maximise the relevance and impact of the interventions at a population and individual level
- Identify and agree the best methods for implementing the required evidence-based solutions and to test how they can be put into practice in a range of services across the Applied Research Collaborations and Academic Health Science Networks
- Evaluate the impact of implementing mental health interventions using state of the art research methods
Governance arrangements
MHIN Executive: The MHIN was governed by an Executive committee, which was chaired by programme lead Dr Simon Hackett and met bi-monthly.
MHIN Advisory Board: The advisory board was chaired by Professor Claire Henderson, clinical professor of public mental health at King's College London.
Read more about the Executive and the Advisory Board and download a structure diagram
How we have involved patients, service users, carers and the public
We embedded involvement, engagement and participation throughout our governance structures and projects:
- Jason Grant was our PPI Lead
- Lucy Gallagher was our patient and public involvement (PPI) coordinator
- Amy Allard-Dunbar was our programme peer researcher
The team provided advice and guidance on public involvement across each of the three MHIN projects. Specific advisory groups with Experts by Experience were created to support some of the projects. Three Experts by Experience joined our Advisory Board.
Guidance to support PPI within MHIN
The Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) workstream created a guidance document to support the MHIN implementation teams in embedding meaningful, equitable PPI in their projects. It provides a 'pick and mix' of resources, including self-reflection tools and further reading to spark ideas, prompt discussion, and support good practice.
One tool included in the guidance is the Snakes and Ladders of Involvement illustration. This graphic provides a framework for self-reflection that can be used following PPI activity to support teams in assessing their involvement. It can also be used when planning involvement to ensure it allows for meaningful input.
How we prioritised mental health solutions
The MHIN launched a scoping exercise in April 2021 to identify specific areas of mental health care in England where there is a high level of unmet need, and which could be addressed through existing evidence-based solutions at scale. There was an excellent response to the scoping exercise, with mental health trusts, charities, social and educational services, and research organisations, helping to identify more than 90 mental health needs in England.
MHIN researchers then aligned these needs with those identified by other studies in England since 2015 and a review of national policy documents. Using this approach, the researchers identified seven broad areas of mental health need and their accompanying solutions in England:
- Children and young people
- Comorbidities
- Inequalities
- Mental health systems strengthening
- Talking therapies
- Suicide / self-harm
- Severe mental illness
Working under the seven areas, the researchers then identified 22 mental health solutions that met the needs of patients and health systems, were ready for implementation, and were supported by evidence of effectiveness, including NICE guidance.
Read more about our prioritisation work
- Scoping exercise launched to identify unmet needs in mental health care
- Unmet needs in mental health care: help us prioritise high-impact solutions
- Priority setting infographic
Our MHIN projects
After the prioritisation exercise and a selection process, specific ARCs and their local partners were appointed to collaborate with us to implement the following three interventions in their local areas. All three projects worked to improve mental health across the life course by catalysing and evaluating high-impact interventions at key stages in regional and national services.
- Project 1 (Improving access to mental health services for minority ethnic communities)
ARC Greater Manchester and ARC Yorkshire & Humber were selected to implement the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF) - Project 2 (Children and young people’s mental health)
ARC East of England and ARC Northwest Coast evaluated the implementation of parent-led Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in schools - Project 3 (Integrated care protocols for substance use issues, mental and physical health problems)
ARC Greater Manchester and ARC Yorkshire & Humber were selected to implement Alcohol Assertive Outreach Treatment
Evaluating MHIN work and the sustainability of interventions
Researchers specialising in implementation science and evaluation, interviewed 50 stakeholders in the second half of the programme. Their aim was to assess the sustainability of MHIN-supported interventions in the real-world and to identify factors that could influence site partners' ability to sustain interventions.
Key dissemination activities included a presentation at the Health Services Research UK Conference. The team are presenting their findings at the European Implementation Collaborative 2025.
A webinar on sustainability of innovations in healthcare was held in September 2024. The session identified key factors that impact real-world implementation and explored current frameworks for sustaining healthcare innovations.
Capacity building
As part of the capacity-building activities of the MHIN, a leadership and professional development skills training programme was delivered for early- to mid-career researchers in October 2024.
Continuing the MHIN’s work
A grant proposal has been developed to secure future funding for national and/or regional implementation in key mental health priority areas and will be submitted to the NIHR’s Mental Health Research Groups Award. The proposal will be a collaboration between the University of East Anglia, Newcastle University, and King’s College London.
