The mainstays of participation in community life are:

• a home
• a meaningful past time or role (being employed, studying, parenting or contributing as a volunteer)
  relationships – connections with loved ones and a wider circle of friends and acquaintances.
• People with mental illness often miss out in these three areas, with the result that they are marginalised - living on the fringes rather than in the centre of our community.

MI Fellowship works on numerous fronts to increase social inclusion:

• Our vocational programs help people with mental illness to get jobs (e.g. ‘My Recruitment’)
• Our education programs help people with mental illness to return to learning to increase their level of educational attainment to increase opportunities for employment
  
• Our services focus on linking people with mental illness into local communities and resourcing them with contacts, networks and relationships (e.g. ‘Opening Doors’, ‘Linking People Locally’)
  
• Our family and community education programs fight stigma and promote acceptance of people with mental illness (e.g. ‘Well Ways’, ‘Duo’, 'Snapshot', ‘Understanding Mental Illness’, and our ‘Speakers’ Bureau’)
  
• Through strategic partnerships with mainstream groups and organizations, we build inclusive policies (e.g. ANZ On-Line Learning tool for employees, ‘Mental Health Matters’)
  
• Through high level advocacy, we open public debate and contribute to sectoral reform (e.g. Ministerial Advisory Committees, ‘Parliamentary Friends’)
  
• Our public events and festivals bring people together in a spirit of openness and inclusion (e.g. Woodcock Lecture, Open Mind Fiesta).
  

MI Fellowship’s social inclusion campaign is ongoing – social inclusion is the unifying theme that underpins our services and our advocacy activities.

Social inclusion is the central theme of the 2009 Woodcock lecture, and our guest speaker is Dr David Morris, Programme Director, National Social Inclusion Programme, National Institute for Mental Health in England.