The right to be heard: independent mental health advocacy services in England.

■ Good quality IMHA services are easy to find and contact, and have the confidence and trust of the service user. They enable the person to express their views and be active participants in their care and treatment under the Mental Health Act. ■ IMHA services need to be commissioned in an informed way: investment needs to match local need and potential demand, and should be grounded in an understanding of the particular barriers that different groups face. ■ IMHA services need to involve people with lived experience in their design and take account of the diverse populations that they serve. They should reach out to communities and factor their specific needs into the way in which the service is provided. ■ Mental health services play a crucial role in providing an enabling context within which IMHA services are delivered. The attitudes of mental health professionals and their understanding of advocacy can make a difference to whether qualifying patients access the service. T he controversy surrounding the Channel 4 Cutting Edge documentary ‘Ian Brady: Endgames of a psychopath’, screened in August, about mass murderer Brady and his ‘mental health advocate’ – who allegedly took a sealed envelope containing details about where the body of one of his victims is buried – exposed a general lack of understanding about the nature of mental health advocacy, at the same time as raising public interest in the role. But what is the state of mental health advocacy in England? The University of Central Lancashire recently undertook a large-scale study of independent mental health advocacy (IMHA) services, which details the role in relation to the psychiatric system and makes the case for good quality independent advocacy. In this article we provide a snapshot of the main findings from the study. The full report can be found at: http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ schools/school_of_health/the_right_to_be_heard.php