NIACE/NIMHE/LSC Partnership Programme

Access to Adult Education for people with Mental Health Difficulties

Project Status: Ongoing

> View the dedicated website for this project here.

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NIACE is working in partnership with the newly formed National Institute of Mental Health in England (NIMHE). The partnership aims to improve access to learning and skills for adults with mental health difficulties.

The first phase of the partnership is to do a survey of learning and skills providers to find out the level of provision for people experiencing mental health difficulties. In 1996 a similar survey was carried out with Further Education colleges and Local Education Authorities. It concluded that provision for people experiencing mental health difficulties was patchy in quantity and quality.

In 2003 we repeated this survey of all Further Education colleges and Local Education Authority Adult Education Services in England. The information is available as a national summary of available provision for adults with mental health difficulties. The information from this national survey has also been broken down to provide regional reports of provision available in each of the 8 NIMHE Regional Development Centres. We also began a survey of learning and skills provision offered by training for work providers and voluntary organisations which is also available in national summary report.

The second stage of the NIACE/NIMHE Partnership Programme has been to establish Regional Networks in each of the 8 NIMHE Regional Development Centres. The Regional Networks will be able to use the data from the surveys to highlight positive practice and identify gaps in provision for adults with mental health difficulties in each region.

For further details of the Networks please contact Kathryn James - email address kathryn.james@niace.org.uk

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