The National Survivor User Network is hosting an informative Q&A webinar to explore the changes to the Mental Health Act 1983 set out in the recent White Paper. We want to delve into the detail of the proposed changes to enable more people to understand the White Paper and respond to the consultation, which is running online until the 21st April.

There will be the option to send in any questions you have in advance of the webinar when you register via this Eventbrite page. You can also email them to amy.wells@nsun.org.uk prior to the event. You will also be able to send questions to the panel live during the event via the chat/Q&A function on Zoom. Please note that we may not be able to answer all the questions we receive but we will do our best to get through as many as possible.

Chairing the discussion will be Mark Brown, Development Director of Social Spider and a well-recognised writer and tweeter on mental health, social innovation and social media.

Our panellists are:

• Jabeer Butt, the CEO of the Race Equality Foundation. He has gained an international reputation for the use of evidence in developing interventions that help overcome discrimination and disadvantage. He is also leading the work of the Foundation to increase the use of evidence in developing better health and housing support. In addition, he leads the Foundation’s work on better engagement of the third sector by the Department of Health’s Strategic Partners programme. Jabeer has been on a number of committees and is presently a member of the NHS’s Equality and Diversity Council. Jabeer continues to write and most recently produced a guide on effective engagement of parents for the Social Care Institute for Excellence. He received an OBE in 2013 for his work promoting race equality.

• Joanna Dean, a lawyer specialising in prison and mental health. She has a wealth of experience having represented patients whilst they were sectioned including forensic patients at Ashworth and Rampton hospitals. She has spent the last 7 years working for Mind using that expertise to influence national policy and legislation including being involved in the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act. She worked in coalition with other charities including as part of the Mental Health Alliance. She has authored for the Legal Action magazine, having written articles about mental health policy and practice and has provided training at UCL.

• Neil Allen, a Barrister at 39 Essex Chambers and Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester. With particular interests in human rights, mental health and incapacity law, he teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students, and regularly delivers training for a variety of audiences. Neil co-authored the Law Society’s guide on Deprivation of Liberty, assisted ADASS with the DoLS forms, and is an Advisor to the Care Quality Commission’s DoLS Group. His published academic commentary on the Mental Health Act 1983, Mental Capacity Act 2005, and DoLS is featured in legal books and journals.

• Jayne Gardner, who has been in her current role as an AMHP with Hartlepool Borough Council for over 20 years with 17 years as manager of an Integrated CMHT in partnership with Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys NHS. She is a representative for the North East AMHP Leads Forum on the National AMHP Leads Steering Group has a passion for making sure mental health policy and law reflect the needs and choices of individuals and upholds their Human Rights. She believes this opportunity to shape future legislation is of vital importance.