At NSUN we are keen to hear about and support campaigning and policy work that aligns with our policy priorities, particularly those that are important to grassroots and member organisations. Policy and campaigning work can mean lots of different things; it could be challenging a piece of upcoming legislation, highlighting poor mental health care, or drawing attention to the ways a particular issue impacts mental health.
Previous member campaigns we have supported include StopSIM, Make Space’s work around the Online Safety Bill, and Stop Oxevision.
This page outlines how NSUN members can either alert us to a policy-related issue, or request our support with your campaign. It includes:
- Guidance on requesting our support, including what we can and cannot help with. Please read this before getting in touch with us.
- Form: Alert us to an issue: this is for bringing something to our attention. Use this form to let us know about a policy issue you think NSUN should be aware of or working on.
- Form: Request campaign support: this is for members to ask for our help. Use this form to request specific support on a campaign/policy issue you are working on.
1. Guidance on requesting our support
How we can help
Offers of support are only open to NSUN members: people and user-led/grassroots groups with lived experience of mental ill-health, distress, or trauma. You can join as a member for free via our website. The support we can offer will depend on the specific policy problem or campaign you are working on. This could include, but is not limited to:
- Talking through an idea with you.
- Connecting you with other groups/people in our network.
- Amplifying your work through our website, social media, and/or Members’ bulletin.
- Taking on an issue in our own name, or in partnership with you.
- Giving you advice on seeking funding.
- Sometimes, we may have small and limited amounts of funding available to offer to user-led campaigns.
When we can’t support
There are limits to the support we can offer. This is primarily about capacity and the degree to which the specific policy work/campaign aligns with our mission, vision, and values, and our policy priority areas. As a guide, we will not be able to support work when we feel it:
- Takes an apolitical, overly polarising, or binary view of issues surrounding mental ill-health, distress, or trauma.
- Asks for support that is beyond our capacity or expertise.
- Does not align with our mission, vision, or values and/or our policy priorities.
- Does not have clear outcomes or aims.
- Focuses on an individual instance/case. We are not able to take on individual casework or legal support. You can find more about formal advice, advocacy, and casework support here.
- You/a significant proportion of your group do not have lived experience of mental ill-health, distress, or trauma.
2. Alert us to an issue
This form is for members to tell us about a policy issue you think we should be aware of or working on.
If you would like to request specific support on a campaign you are already working on, please fill out the ‘Request our support’ form instead (below). If you are unable to use the form, you can email us at info@nsun.org.uk with the subject line “Raising an issue”.
3. Request our support
This form is for members to request our support on a policy and/or campaigning topic.
Before using the form, please read the “guidance on requesting our support” section, above. This form is for individuals with lived experience/user-led groups or organisations who have already begun work on a particular issue and have a specific request from NSUN.
If you would like to alert us to an issue that you have not/do not wish to work on yourself, please use the ‘Alert us to an issue’ form instead (above). If you are not able to use this form, please contact us at info@nsun.org.uk with the subject line “Request for support”, and we will send you the form’s questions in an alternative format.