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Effective public mental health policy and practice call for a trained workforce that is competent in mental health promotion and delivering on improved mental health. Systematic information on what competencies are needed for mental health promotion practice in the health sector is lacking. The purpose of this paper is to investigate these competencies for mental health promotion.

A Delphi survey was carried out to facilitate a consensus-building process on development of the competencies. Professionals (n=32) working in mental health and mental health promotion took part in the survey. The experts were asked their professional views on the needed competencies as well as to rank the importance of the competencies. Two questionnaire rounds were carried out in order to reach consensus.

In total, 16 main competencies and 56 subcompetencies were identified through the Delphi survey. The competencies were divided into three category domains: theoretical knowledge, practical skills and attitudes and values each category representing an important aspect of mental health promotion competency.

The competencies provide a resource for workforce development, as they illustrate what theoretical knowledge, practical skills and attitudes and values are required. They provide an instrument to enhance education and training programmes in mental health promotion contributing to a more skilled workforce and improved quality of practice as well.

A strong consensus was reached within the participating experts, them viewing all competencies as important. The identified competencies highlight the great variety of different competencies and competency areas that are needed for effective mental health promotion practice in the health sector.

Partnerships for public mental health are common. At a national and regional level, partnerships are frequently developed in order to co‐ordinate programmes to deliver public health outcomes, such as tackling stigma (see me, 2010) or promoting recovery (Elament, 2010; Scottish Recovery Network, 2010). At a European level, public mental health partnerships commonly exist to enhance learning and knowledge exchanges commonly between countries. While these partnerships are valuable, there is an increasing recognition that public mental health programmes must be embedded, shaped and realised at a regional level. Thus regions are not ‘implementers’ of national public mental health policy, but instead should be recognised and empowered to inform policy and practice. This approach was taken in Scotland when the national programme for mental health was renewed through a highly devolved and participatory consultation process and publication of Towards a Mentally Flourishing Scotland (Scottish Government, 2009). Against this backdrop, we examine a different model of partnership working; regional‐level international collaborations. This case study explores 'FINLAN': a collaboration between Lanarkshire Mental Health Improvement Group in Scotland and The South Ostrobothnia Project in Finland.

Against the background of rising mental health (MH) problems many practitioners and health programmers require tools to plan and implement mental health promotion (MHP). A Likert scale to measure Perceived Knowledge of Skills needed for MHP (PKSMHP) was developed and pilot tested. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A convenience sample of leading personnel (n=106) in three settings (43 schools, 24 workplaces, 39 care facilities) was drawn in five European countries. A descriptive item analysis, an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and a scales’ performance analysis was adopted.

The validated PKSMHP scale included nine high-quality items measuring the knowledge level of three skills dimensions: MHP management/planning, MHP tools/methods/services and recognition/detection of MH problems. Taken together these can be seen to represent the overall type of skills needed for implementing MHP.

The short scale showed very good scale performance values in this pilot study. After further testing the scale might be used as a baseline assessment of MHP needs, as a building block for MHP training and organisational capacity building.