AVES MH

AVES MH Developing and empowering global lived experience leaders. https://www.gmhpn.org/services.html

Experts by Experience engagement and consultations, document and policy reviews, meet the people who tell their stories about thriving with a mental health condition.

The conditions for transformative change in mental health have never been more favourable. And the urgency has never bee...
29/05/2026

The conditions for transformative change in mental health have never been more favourable. And the urgency has never been greater.

Mental health is now recognised as a global health imperative within the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The right to health framework gives States clear guidance on where rights-based policies and investments must go. The evidence base for effective psychosocial interventions in the community continues to grow.

What is needed now is the courage to follow through. That means integrating mental health into primary and general health care in a meaningful way as a core component. It means involving all stakeholders, including people with lived experience, in the development of public policies that address the underlying determinants of mental health. This means making a decisive break from the culture of coercion, isolation, and excessive medicalization that has caused so much harm for so long.

Parity between physical and mental health is achievable. But it will not happen on its own.

At aves Mental Health, we believe this moment calls for ambition, accountability, and action rooted in the voices of those most affected.

What would real parity between physical and mental health look like in your country or community?

The alternatives to coercive psychiatric care are not theoretical. They exist, and in some places, they are already repl...
28/05/2026

The alternatives to coercive psychiatric care are not theoretical. They exist, and in some places, they are already replacing emergency medicalized treatment entirely.

Open Dialogue in Lapland has done exactly that. The Soteria House model has been successfully recreated across multiple countries. Recovery colleges, peer-led crisis houses, respite houses, personal ombudsmen, empowerment psychiatry, and family support conferencing are all part of a growing evidence base for what non-coercive, recovery-based mental health care can look like in practice.

At the centre of many of these models is peer support. When it is not compromised by institutional pressures, peer support provides hope, builds autonomy, and enables people to learn from the lived experience of others in ways that clinical relationships alone cannot replicate.

Measuring progress toward the right to health means tracking the availability of these alternatives and the reduction of non-consensual measures. Not as aspirational targets, but as concrete indicators of systems that are genuinely changing.

At aves Mental Health, we believe peer support and non-coercive models are not the future of mental health care. For many people, they are already the present.

What non-coercive models are you seeing make a real difference in your community?

Programmes built without communities rarely work for communities.Migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and people with men...
27/05/2026

Programmes built without communities rarely work for communities.

Migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and people with mental health conditions and psychosocial disabilities face overlapping barriers to integration and economic independence.

Culturally sensitive education and career outreach, targeted employment and housing initiatives, and empowerment-focused support can make a real difference. But only when they are developed in genuine partnership with the people they are meant to serve.

That means engaging all stakeholders in local communities from the outset. Creating local working groups, holding public meetings and community dialogues, organizing discussion forums, and implementing solutions that emerge from within communities rather than being imposed from outside.

It also means making deliberate efforts to reach hard-to-reach and under-resourced areas, ensuring that people from diverse demographics and backgrounds, including those with mental health conditions and psychosocial disabilities, have a real voice in shaping what support looks like.

What does genuine community-led design look like in your context?

The evidence is there. The interventions exist. The investment is not.Psychosocial interventions consistently produce po...
26/05/2026

The evidence is there. The interventions exist. The investment is not.

Psychosocial interventions consistently produce positive health outcomes. They can be delivered in community health settings, at low cost, over short timeframes. They reduce the need for more invasive medicalization. And yet they continue to be treated as optional extras rather than the essential treatments they are.

This is a failure of prioritization, not a failure of evidence.

Changing this requires equipping the full range of community health workers, nurses, general practitioners, midwives, social workers, and community health workers, with psychosocial skills. It requires integrating these interventions into regular health care rather than siloing them as specialist services. And it requires a fundamental shift in how health systems define first-line treatment for mental health issues.

Community-led psychosocial support is not a compromise on quality. It is what quality looks like for the majority of people who experience mental health conditions.

How are psychosocial interventions valued and resourced in the health systems you work within?

Fear of psychiatric coercion is not irrational. For many people, it is the reason they avoid mental health services alto...
22/05/2026

Fear of psychiatric coercion is not irrational. For many people, it is the reason they avoid mental health services altogether.

Forced treatment and confinement perpetuate power imbalances that have defined psychiatry for too long. They cause mistrust, exacerbate stigma and discrimination, and actively undermine the right to health. And when understood within the framework of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, they are no longer defensible as a standard of care.

The obligation is clear. States must move urgently and decisively toward ending all forced psychiatric treatment and confinement. That includes removing the ability of substitute decision-makers to provide consent on behalf of persons with disabilities on matters affecting their physical or mental integrity. Instead, support must be provided at every stage, including in emergencies and crisis situations, for people to make their own decisions.

Autonomy is not a privilege extended to some. It is a right that belongs to everyone, at every moment.

Where do you see coercion still being normalized in mental health systems around you? We would love to hear your perspective.

A return-to-work programme is only as good as the care and coordination behind it.When someone returns to work following...
21/05/2026

A return-to-work programme is only as good as the care and coordination behind it.

When someone returns to work following a mental health illness, the stakes are high. Done well, it restores income, rebuilds social connections, and supports full participation in society. Done poorly, it risks pushing people back out the door faster than they came in.

Getting it right means involving all the right stakeholders from the start, including the returning worker, their family or carers, healthcare providers, employers, and social services. It means building in flexibility, phased re-entry, reasonable accommodations, and ongoing mental health and psychosocial support. And it means maintaining strict confidentiality of health information at every stage, without exception.

Managers and supervisors are a critical part of this equation, too. Without proper training, even the best-designed programme can fall apart at the point of human interaction.

What has your experience been with return-to-work programmes, as a worker, a manager, or a practitioner?

Workplace stress does not always stem from overwork. Often it comes from something more subtle: not knowing what is expe...
20/05/2026

Workplace stress does not always stem from overwork. Often it comes from something more subtle: not knowing what is expected, feeling underutilized, or struggling to see the meaning in what you do every day.

Clearly defined roles and tasks reduce ambiguity and conflict, giving workers a greater sense of control and competence. When expectations and deadlines are transparent, and workers' skills are genuinely engaged, job satisfaction follows. Encouraging variety in the work people do keeps things engaging and supports personal growth. And when people understand why their work matters, they feel a sense of purpose that protects against disconnection and disengagement.

These are not perks. They are the building blocks of a mentally healthy workplace. Organisations that get this right do not just support their people. They see it reflected in productivity, retention, and culture.

At Aves Mental Health, we believe that mental health at work starts with the everyday conditions people work in, not just the support available when things go wrong.

What has made the biggest difference to your sense of purpose and wellbeing at work?

*Conversations that create change* 💚This past weekend our Deputy CEO, Claudia Sartor, and Global Network Manager, Sandra...
19/05/2026

*Conversations that create change* 💚

This past weekend our Deputy CEO, Claudia Sartor, and Global Network Manager, Sandra Ferreira, facilitated a powerful mental health awareness talk within a local community space, unpacking mental health stigma, understanding mental health conditions and exploring how individuals and communities alike can create safer more supportive environments. 🫂

While much of our work centres around advocacy, policy, systems change, and research, the importance of community awareness and education is always integral to us as an organisation. Meaningful change does not happen only at policy level, it also happens in everyday community spaces, through conversation, connection, and shared understanding. 🫶

As part of our ongoing commitment to giving back to our communities, opportunities like these continue to remind us why this work matters, who it is for and the transformative power that exists within community itself. 🌻


Workplace harm does not always look dramatic. Sometimes it is persistent, subtle, and deeply damaging.Mobbing, bullying,...
19/05/2026

Workplace harm does not always look dramatic. Sometimes it is persistent, subtle, and deeply damaging.

Mobbing, bullying, cyber-harassment, discrimination, and abuse all violate human rights. And their consequences for workers' mental health can be severe and long-lasting, including the development of mental health conditions and, in the most tragic cases, su***de. Employment sector policies must take this seriously, not as a box-ticking exercise, but as a genuine commitment to the people who make organisations function.

That means strengthening internal reporting procedures to ensure they are safe, confidential, and protective of those who come forward. It means safeguarding workers from retaliation when they report harassment or abuse. And it means creating safe spaces and informal mechanisms for conflict resolution that allow issues to be addressed early, particularly for workers in less powerful positions who may have the most to lose by speaking up.

What does your organisation do to create safe reporting environments?

Universal programmes are a foundation, but they are not enough for everyone.Many older adults, people with disabilities,...
18/05/2026

Universal programmes are a foundation, but they are not enough for everyone.

Many older adults, people with disabilities, and those with long-term mental health conditions have complex needs that existing housing, employment, and education services were not designed to meet. The gap between what is available and what is needed does not just create inconvenience. It generates stress, anxiety, and a measurable decline in mental health.

The response requires imagination and genuine collaboration. Individualized housing solutions with varying levels of support. Opportunities to reconnect with family and social networks for those who wish it. Medium to long-term family-style group housing. Personal assistance programmes that support active, autonomous living while always centering the full consent of the people receiving care.

None of this happens in isolation. It requires mental health services, urban planning, and social services working together with intention and accountability.

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