Since its launch, MHIN has brought together clinicians, researchers, people with lived experience, health and care providers, commissioners and regional and national partners to support evidence-based improvements in mental health services.
In this final commentary, we share highlights from the MHIN Success Stories meeting and include reflections from Dr Simon Hackett, MHIN Programme Lead, on the network’s journey, development, achievements and lasting legacy.
On 25 March, the MHIN Success Stories event provided an opportunity for network members including project leads, researchers, programme staff and MHIN Advisory Board members to come together and share the outcomes and learning from the programme.
The event opened with a presentation from Professor Colin Drummond, who led the programme until his retirement in March 2025. He reflected on the origins and development of MHIN, sharing his insights on its journey and impact.
The MHIN has delivered valuable insights into mental health implementation, significantly advancing both international research and national capacity
Next, followed inspiring narratives from across the MHIN project sites, including the MHIN programme evaluation team:
Project 1: The Patient Carer Race Equality Framework
Project 2: Implementing Parent-Led CBT (Dr. Kathryn Berzins and Dr. Bonnie Teague)
Project 3: Integrated protocols for substance use, mental and physical health problems
MHIN Programme evaluation (Dr Blossom Fernandes, Amy Allard-Dunbar, Dr Shalini Ahuja & Prof. Annette Boaz)
During the second part of the meeting, the MHIN PPI team including Jason Grant (PPI Lead), Amy Allard-Dunbar (Peer Researcher, and Lucy Gallagher (PPI Co-ordinator) shared their reflections on the impact of Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) across the programme.
To conclude, Kelly Davies, MHIN Programme Manager, provided a summary of key achievements and highlights, including capacity-building initiatives, staff promotions, and successful grant awards.
Final reflections celebrated the breadth and depth of MHIN’s impact, noting a strong legacy of policy influence, the development of practical toolkits and publications. Notable key achievements include:
As the MHIN draws to a close in 2025, we asked Dr Simon Hackett , MHIN Programme Lead & Senior Clinical Lecturer in Applied Mental Health Research, Newcastle University: ‘What did the Mental Health Implementation Network (MHIN) achieve?’
It has been wonderful to see the fantastic real-world impact that this NIHR priority consortium on mental health and children’s mental health has had.
The focus of MHIN has been on priority setting, commissioning implementation evaluations, and enabling sustainable practice change. We have got some great examples of real-world policy and practice changes that MHIN has directly influenced
In my time leading MHIN I have been proud to work with such a dedicated team who have all wanted to make a difference to mental health provision through research, evaluation, and the development of practical and sustainable solutions. It has been really important to work with public members and practitioners to understand how things work in the real-world and to see how we can make a difference.
We have learned together is that it is the personal relationships that often matter most, working with and for our communities to understand their needs and aspirations, and empowering people with lived experience to become leaders and set the agenda.
Over a programme spanning more than five years, it is inevitable that we had to learn some hard lessons together and this meant taking time to reflect and make some changes along the way.
Personally, I have really enjoyed the times when we got together and celebrated our achievements. It has been great working with such a broad range of people across MHIN from our executive and advisory boards, public members and experts by experience, researchers and practitioners. I am also extremely grateful to Professor Colin Drummond for his dedication to leading MHIN from its inception and I am delighted to have had the opportunity to follow in his footsteps.
In collaboration with the ARC National Mental Health Collaboration, led by ARCs East of England and South London, ongoing efforts will focus on sustaining the MHIN network through knowledge-sharing events and broader stakeholder engagement.
As part of this legacy, the MHIN Advisory Board—established during the funded period—will serve as the foundation for a future Carers Research Support Network.
View the programme and the presentation slides