Plans and actions for collaboration of different disciplines and sectors for promotion of mental health and preventing mental disorders should include the involvement of different partners at various levels of expertise.

Examples of various implementations are to be shared among all parties so that exchange of experiences (including successes and failures) can enhance and stimulate further cooperation.

There has been several “learning together” activities carried out in Kocaeli, Turkey, in the last fifteen years, with the involvement of different governmental and nongovernmental organisations to raise awareness and to improve collaboration among decision makers, service providers and service users.

Physicians (including psychiatrists), psychologists, social workers, nurses, counsellors, teachers, members of armed forces, lawyers, administrators, service users, their family members have all been part of different implementations, most of them at local and a few at national level. It has not been possible in all cases to achieve the intended results, but it would be fair to conclude that there were lessons to be learned from all trials.

Some of the reasons of missing the intended results were different backgrounds, expectations, attributions, various and sometimes conflicting agendas of partners; limited experience regarding working and learning together for almost all partners… Some of the achievements were related with common interests, having experienced a major disaster (an earthquake), challenge of working against stigma with limited resources, openness and friendship at most of the cases… Several examples are planned to be discussed during the presentation.