Supported decision-making

For 35 years, Mental Health Europe (MHE) has been a leading pan-European organisation that promotes the rights of people with mental ill-health and psychosocial disabilities. Its work is guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) which reiterates that people with disabilities, including people with psychosocial disabilities, must fully enjoy their human rights.

As both means and ends, MHE aims to increase the participation of people with lived experiences of mental ill-health at the European level and their meaningful contribution to the decision-making processes of the EU based on their personal autonomy and self-determination. The active and informed participation of everyone in decisions that affect their lives and rights is consistent with the human rights-based approach in public decision-making processes, and ensures good governance and social accountability.

Mental Health Europe envisions a Europe where full and meaningful participation is guaranteed at all levels of decision-making – stretching from legal frameworks, across policy development, monitoring and evaluation up to the level of implementation. To achieve this, barriers to the legal capacity need to be dismantled which include forms of partial and/or full guardianship. Instead, supported decision-making regimes should be introduced, allowing persons with psychosocial disabilities to take responsibility for their own lives. Among others, supported decision-making is an essential aspect of the mental health recovery process.

Below you can find out all MHE publications and our latest video series concerning supported decision making, constituting a central pillar in its work on human rights and mental health.