A POTTED HISTORY

primhe - 'a better frame of mind'

primhe (primary care mental health and education) started it life in 1995
in Chris Manning's head, as the Primary Care in Mental Health Group (PCiMHG), on the back of there being Primary Care Societies in diabetes, airways and cardio-heart disease, but nothing for the brain-mind and its attendant 'mental' strings. Following discussions with Prof. Andre Tylee, the PCiMHG was established as an 'entity' in 1999. Other vital formative figures were Liz Armstrong, Dr Albert Persaud and Dr Richard Maxwell.

At a National Depression Care Training Centre meeting, Dr David Smart came up with the new name and 'primhe' was born. The charity was incorporated in June 2001. primhe was special in espousing a 'bubble-up' (as oppose to top-down) approach to its work, with its key objective to enable and support existing positive practice, practitioners and staff in primary care and community settings. A journal and website enabled dissemination of the charity's ethos and peer-submitted articles. The then Innovations Network became the discussion forum Clarion and three pharmaceutical companies, Lundbeck, GSK and Pharmacia, together with the Priory Group were instrumental in setting the charity on its feet, not just in terms of funding, but far more importantly, in terms of the development of a Constitution and associated Aims and Objectives.

The early meetings were a model of collaborative working and, in many senses exemplary of how the Third-Sector and the pharmaceutical industry can work together. All those around the tables at the Royal Society of Medicine were there as concerned people 'first and foremost.

primhe 'drew a line in the sand - and that line was the drug product': there was much else to agree on as a basis for shared focus and work. Lundbeck have consistently core-funded the charity and without them, the charity would not exist. En route, via primhe, Wyeth, with Priory, have enabled the Like Minds Network meetings and the re-establishment of the Royal College of General Practitioners Mental Health Group; Wyeth sponsored primhe's Conference in Manchester in October 2006; Pfizer, the Target Mental Health CD Rom and meetings; Lundbeck, the Primary Care Mental Health Implementation Toolkit and then primhe's Resource Pack; Media Innovations, the distribution of 250 Overcoming Depression CD Roms. Most recently, and very importantly, in terms of the (General) Practitioners and Commissioners with Special Interest in Mental Health Masters Accreditation Course Servier provided the pump-priming funding to enable development and delivery of Modules 1 and 2; the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry Mental Health Group, the first six-months funding of primhe's Project Manager for the Course and now Sanofi Aventis and Wyeth for the development of further Modules of the Course. We are currently recruiting the second cohort for the course commencing September 2007. primhe is also grateful to Wiley Interface for their support in disseminating primhe's Journal Abstracts, for running both of primhe's last two Annual Conferences and for assisting in the set-up of the primhe Masters Course.

Since its inception, primhe has:

• Raised and effectively distributed £1m to enable positive mental health practice across the UK via its free Journals (both primhe's own Journal and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Primary Care Journal), website and meetings. primhe's Journal is now abstracted in Progress in Neurology and Psychiatry.
• Distributed over £25k to enable the set-up of other initiatives such as Primary Care Neurology Society (P-CNS) (see below), local Primary Care Trusts Job Retention schemes and over £50k of bursaries, Resource Packs and ICD-10 PCMH Guides to prisons
• Set up the Doctors Support Line: an anonymous and confidential helpline for distressed doctors
• Funded a Patient-Public Involvement and Wellbeing Project Manager at the Changing Minds Centre in Northampton
• Informed the Department of Health Mental Health Promotion Advisory and SHIFT Boards
• Informed the Department of Health Advisory Board on the Mental Health needs of doctors
• Served on the Royal College of Psychiatrists 'Changing Minds' Steering Committee
• Informed the Medicines Partnership
• Informed the 'MindOUT for Mental Health' Document
• Co-produced 'Running on Empty' (with Rethink) and 'From Here to Equality' (with SHIFT),
• Been represented on the National Mental Health Taskforce and now the Mental Health Leadership Network
• Informed the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Report on Social Exclusion and Mental Health
• Presented (and often informed the design of) over 250 local, regional and national events

In the last two years, primhe has:

• Run three highly successful conferences at which over 500 delegates listened to National Clinical Directors and many eminent national policy influencers, including Professor Lord Richard Layard
• Launched its PG Certificate, PG Diploma and Masters Degree Course for (General) Practitioners and Commissioners with Special Interest in Mental Health in conjunction with Staffordshire University
• Hosted the Shared Care Forum Journey of Recovery Project Worker
• Helped to launch the Wellbeing Project in Liverpool
• Hosted the Black Wellness Initiative (BWI)
• Run four joint Conferences with the P-CNS
• Personally nurtured and supported hundreds of primary care professionals and staff
• Worked unstintingly to press for the changes in QoF and general practice that will re-centre it on systemic and whole-person care
• Lobbied for the vital importance of Wellbeing and Commissioning for Health, not just for Illness
• Lobbied for Wellbeing at Work and the NHS to 'Lead by Example'

primhe is:

• Affilated to the Royal College of General Practitioners
• A member of the Alliance of Primary Care Societies
• A Founding-Funder Member of the Primary Care Neurology Society (P-CNS)

The Chief Executive is also:

• National Mental Health Advisor to the NHS Alliance
• National Mental Health Advisor to the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health
• On the Board of the Shared Care Forum and Journey of Recovery Sub-Group
• On the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry Mental Health Group
• On the Bipolar Partnership Forum
• On the Mental Health Research Network
• Co-editor of the peer-reviewed Journal of Primary Care Mental Health

primhe is also:

• Affiliated to The International Society of Affective Disorders (ISAD)
• A member of the European Depression Association (EDA)
• A member of The Institute of International Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL)
• A member of the British Holistic Medical Association (BHMA)

primhe's Patrons are:

• Prof Lewis Wolpert
• Dr Phil Hammond

primhe's Honorary President is Prof. Andre Tylee

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