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The demand for evidence‐based health practices has created a cultural challenge for Indigenous people around the world. This paper reports on the history and evolution of evidence‐based care into its mainstream status within the behavioural health field. Through the leadership of an Alaska Native tribal organisation, an international forum was convened to address the challenges of evidence‐based practice for Indigenous people. Forum participants developed a model for gathering evidence that integrates rigorous research with Indigenous knowledge and values. The model facilitates development of practices and programmes that are culturally congruent for Indigenous people, accepted and validated by the research community, and deemed supportable by private and governmental sponsors.

Historically, youth mental health has had a quiet voice in public fora. However there has been an increase in the number of leaders representing the child and adolescent mental health and addictions sector in the IIMHL over the past couple of years, including the inclusion of young leaders in 2007. In fact, it has been more than inclusion; we have had the opportunity to speak to hundreds of international mental health leaders and impact lots of people through what we do in our various roles. It is empowering, a privilege, and a responsibility to represent and present what's important for young people who utilise mental health services.

The International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL) has a parallel branch that has a focus on issues for leaders in the disability sector (the International Initiative for Disability Leaders ‐ IIDL). This article was written by Michael Kendrick, an internationally renowned leader and speaker in the disability, mental health and aged care sector.

The leadership of people with lived experience of mental health problems is underdeveloped, when it comes to leadership in one's own recovery, at the service level, and at the systemic level. Unlike the mental health system, the user/survivor movement has a values base of empowerment and equality. But the movement has not yet created an explicit model of leadership based on these values. Conventional models of leadership have little to offer but critiques of it provide a good framework for users and survivors to build its own model of leadership upon. If user/survivor leadership is to thrive, new roles, practices and competencies need to be developed. At a deeper level, there needs to be philosophical, psychological and political shifts in service systems if user/survivor leadership is to ever take root. Furthermore, the leadership of empowerment and equality should pervade all the leadership in service systems and beyond.

The challenge of developing leadership in a mass public service where previous notions of leadership have been narrow and limited only to senior positions is being taken up by the National Skills Academy for Social Care. This article describes the leadership development challenge in the English adult care sector, which is undergoing major policy and organisational change as a result of greater control of resources passing directly to people who need care support. The author sets out the initial guiding principles of the Skills Academy for Social Care and their approach to leadership development rooted in the values of the care sector and the reality of care and support work ‐ dispersed, low status, highly skilled and with a strong commitment to rights, entitlements and empowerment. In particular the Academy is adopting an emphasis on behaviours and personal attributes in its leadership approach that are informed by people who use care services who demand more responsive and personalised support. The article sets out a number of key principles on which the Academy will seek partnerships and collaboration to deliver greater engagement with leadership development across all who work in the sector.

The Executive Leadership and Management Programme (ELMP) and the advanced programme (AELMP) were founded in New Zealand in 2004. The Blueprint Centre for Learning was contracted by the then Mental Health Workforce Development Programme to develop and deliver a leadership and management programme for staff in the mental health and addictions sector. The programme is now managed under Te Pou (the National Center for Mental Health Research, Information and Workforce Development). The Blueprint Centre for Learning is the only New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and ISO 9001 accredited training provider focusing on mental health in New Zealand. Blueprint's focus is on ‘living the learning' and the organisation has a spirit of ‘passion for people and potential’. While some basic statistics indicate the success of the programmes, it is timely to conduct a more in‐depth qualitative evaluation of them. Thus, the aim of this project was to examine the outcomes (personal, professional and organisational) perceived to have occurred as a result of attending the programmes.

The author outlines the view of mental health in New Zealand, and presents an overview of factors that will influence this in the future, arguing that leadership is required to further a nation's positive mental health. Recent analysis is then presented on the concept of ‘flourishing’ in people and communities and how this has explored positive states of experience and functioning. The personal and social benefits that this approach can give as part of a full spectrum approach to mental health are considered. The Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand proposes a range of potential activities as examples that could contribute to an increase of flourishing and positive mental health in the wider New Zealand population.

The emerging role of the consumer movement in shaping the reform of mental health services in New Zealand since the mid‐1980s, and in particular in the last five to 10 years, has been considerable. This article suggests that challenges now face a consumer movement born out of institutional oppression, as the successful evolution of community‐based service delivery increasingly becomes a reality ‐ changing not just the location, but also the culture, understandings, expectations and exclusivity of mental health services. The experience of being a ‘consumer’ of mental health services now takes place not so much at the extremities of social life following acute rejection, but within communities that are increasingly diverse, complex, reflective ‐ and often unsure and contradictory. A challenge, then, is for a consumer leadership to remain inclusive of diversity and dynamism of community life.

Old age is a time of increased spiritual and existential awareness. Ageing throws up many challenges and older people may rely on the help of those around them to maintain hope and purpose. However, most professionals and caregivers do not have the experience or skills to adequately deal with the sorts of spiritual questions that often arise. Leadership, at all levels, in this area could result in a more compassionate environment for elderly people who are struggling with important issues.