The innovative role of user-led organisations

This article gives an overview and selected findings from a study funded by the Mental Health Foundation in 2007, which was collaboratively carried out by researchers at Anglia Ruskin University and two freelance researchers. The research team included members with direct and indirect experience of mental distress. The findings add to our knowledge of an under-studied part of the voluntary sector: organisations run for and by people who share the same health or social condition. The reported study explored and identified the innovative organisational features and funding arrangements of four mental health user-led organisations, as well as assessing service users' perceptions of the role that such organisations play in promoting social inclusion and recovery from their mental health problems. © 2009 Pavilion Journals (Brighton) Ltd.