This collection of chapters casts a critical eye on the concept of coproduction in our national mental health and learning disability services. Is it naive idealism? A one-way road to co-optioning the independent user/survivor movement? A major challenge to the hegemony of the psychiatric profession? The next progressive step in the shift away from medicalised care? Or is it simply unaffordable, unacceptable and unmanageable to policymakers, decision-takers and funding bodies? Contributors from across the mental health arena offer critical analysis and case examples of coproduction in principle and practice. Presented in three parts, the book describes the progression towards and the barriers that block the achievement of coproduction, the challenges it presents to the psychiatric and mental health professions, and finally, examples where progress has been made. The contributions demonstrate how users of services and their carers can be involved as equal partners in shaping the delivery of democratic, ethical, equitable mental health care in secure, acute and community settings.
