The Whole Life Programme has been led by the Eastern Development Centre working in partnership with South West Development Centre since 2003. There are now 11 development sites/systems linked to the programme and close links are being established with the national social inclusion programme. The overall aim of the programme is to ensure that local service delivery is able more closely to reflect the needs and aims of individual service users in all their dimensions and provide a much more person-centred, holistic empowering response involving a growing range of mainstream resources in local communities as well as local statutory and independent service providers.

The programme has focused particularly on establishing a more explicit and appropriate value base for those working at all levels in local services and ensuring that this is operationalised at all levels of the system from the strategic vision set by commissioners and senior managers through to the work of individual practitioners working in frontline services. It is believed that changing the thinking of practitioners, managers and service users will influence practice and provide a powerful driver for system reform and responsive services.

A Whole Life value base essentially reflects the principles advocated in the overlapping agendas around user and carer involvement, social inclusion, recovery, values into practice, individualised budgets, choice, outcomes, development of new community services and service improvement.

Five specific principles that the programme advocates - applicable across all care services are as follows:

• A Whole Life Vision - ensuring that local mental health systems are united by a clear, meaningful, well-articulated vision based on a set of shared values

• Whole Life Values into Practice - operationalising these values and principles at every level and by all stakeholders involved in the planning, delivery and use of services.

• Whole Life Service Development - development of truly local service models and systems that support practitioners to have the flexibility and creativity to apply these values in their day-to-day practice for the benefit of the individuals that they work with.

• A Whole Life, Whole Person Approach - adopting a person-centred, individualised approach that enables practitioners to engage with an individual and develop a partnership that facilitates the restoration of hope, optimism and recovery.

• A Whole Life, Whole Systems Approach - that ensures that local services actively promote the use of mainstream community resources in responding to the needs of individual service users and their families and become much more integrated way with the wider local community.

The programme has engaged frontline staff, service users and managers in local pilots in each of the development sites engage in a range of activities aimed at making local progress in each of these areas. To do this the programme has worked in partnership with a broad range of other national and international agencies including the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, the Kings Fund, the London School of Economics and The Royal College of Psychiatrists Research Unit. The programme has also supported local development sites to develop relationships through study tours and a wider exchange programme with some specific local services in other European countries that have progressive community based mental health services.

For further information about the programme please contact Susannah Rix, Tanya Kennard-Campbell or Mita Brahmbhatt  at Eastern Development Centre on 01206 287578

http://www.eastern.csip.org.uk/wholelife