| Over the years Together has been at the forefront of innovation in mental health care and many of the policies that we pioneered are now standard practice. We continue to innovate and hope that this lecture series – and the debate it generates – will help all of us find new and better ways to support the people who use our services.
The text of each lecture can be downloaded at the foot of the page. (Please note: the opinions expressed in these lectures reflect the personal views of the speakers. They do not represent Together’s official policy.)
You can learn more about the life of Henry Hawkins in our leaflet about his life (which is also available below).
Seventh annual lecture - 2007
David Behan, Director General of Social Care at the Department of Health, on the design of public care services and mental health sector reform.
Sixth annual lecture - 2006 Antony Sheehan, Director of General Health and Care Partnerships at the Department of Health talked about the future of mental health in the context of the Government’s Draft Mental Health Bill published in September.
Fifth annual lecture – 2005
Yasmin Qureshi, Human Rights Advisor to the Mayor of London, talked about mental health: the Muslim experience, drawing parallels between the discrimination experienced by those with mental distress and that felt by Muslims in the aftermath of the London bombings.
Fourth annual lecture – 2004
Cherie Booth QC, on Encouraging Social Exclusion in our Communities, discusses how laws, organisations and individuals can work together to break down the discrimination which affects disabled people in general and people with mental health problems in particular.
Third annual lecture – 2003
Professor Richard Bentall, author of Madness Explained, on Modern Psychiatric Myths, discusses why he believes current psychiatric diagnoses and practice are confusing – even dangerous.
Second annual lecture – 2002
Professor Lewis Wolpert (controversial scientist and author of Malignant Sadness, the bestselling book on depression) discusses False Beliefs in Mental Health, in which he explores both the false beliefs that are part of some mental health problems, and those held by the general public.
First annual lecture – 2001
Professor Peter Beresford on Encouraging Caring Communities, in which he talks about the need to rethink the impersonal jargon used in the mental health field, the importance of acknowledging ‘the madness and distress that…are part of us all’, and the need to challenge discrimination wherever it is found. | 
