14 May 2018 To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, we’ll be sharing real life stories about how human rights can transform the lives of people affected by mental health issues, together with our practical resources to help make that change. At BIHR we focus on supporting people and organisations to know what human rights are (and are not), and how they can use human rights in everyday life to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect. For the last 7 years we’ve had a strategic focus on mental health (and mental capacity), working in partnership with advocates and service users, staff providing care and treatment, and regulators, to show the practical difference human rights can make. We do this because the evidence shows that people affected by mental health issues are at risk of having their rights breached. This can include having unlawful restrictions on their liberty, being neglected and sometimes abused by public services, a lack of involvement in decisions abo…

This post was originally published on British Institute of Human Rights News .