Transatlantic Partnership Poses Big Questions at Inaugural Mental Health Policy Symposium

On September 14th, NYU Silver School of Social Work and NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service hosted an invitation-only, transatlantic symposium on the latest innovations in policy, research, and practice that promote citizenship and recovery for people with mental health conditions.

This event was the first in a series of policy events organized by the European Union-funded Citizenship, Recovery and Inclusive Society Partnership (CRISP), which unites leaders from academia, policy, practice, advocacy, and direct service from the EU and US to share and build on the solid foundation of work being done to increase social inclusion for people with mental health problems. Led by NYU Silver Associate Professor Victoria Stanhope and NYU Wagner Dean and Professor of Public Service Sherry Glied, CRISP brings together four European partners: University of Strathclyde (Scotland), the Mental Health Foundation (UK), the Finnish Association for Mental Health (Finland), Ulm University (Germany) with three US partners: NYU, Yale University, and Illinois Institute of Technology.

At the symposium, representatives from CRISP and leading policymakers, researchers, and advocates framed the overarching questions for the partnership’s four year agenda focusing on citizenship, recovery, stigma and public policy.

Welcoming remarks were made by Dr. Michael Lindsey, the new Director of NYU Silver’s McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, and Dr. Ann Sullivan, Commissioner of the New York State Office of Mental Health. NYU Wagner’s Dr. Glied gave the keynote, setting the stage for the day with the question: How can policymakers, advocates and researchers contribute to social inclusion and improve the connections between the mainstream and those with mental health problems?

Experts working in the field of mental health as well as those with lived experience reflected on the key issues and barriers to social inclusion. Interactive sessions gave the diverse stakeholders in attendance an opportunity to listen to each other and share potential strategies for improving the mental health of all citizens. The partnership plans to build on the ideas generated at this symposium in its work over the next four years.

NYU Silver’s Dr. Stanhope reflected: “It was exciting to see the exchange of innovative ideas from both sides of Atlantic showing that social inclusion is possible and attainable.”

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 690954.