[4] In 2007 at a Conference held in Dresden on "Coercive Treatment in Psychiatry: A Comprehensive Review", the president and other leaders of the World Psychiatric Association met, following a formal request from the World Health Organization, with several representatives from the user/survivor movement, including Judi Chamberlin (Co-chair of WNUSP), Mary Nettle and Peter Lehmann (Ex-chairs of the European Network of [Ex-] Users and Survivors of Psychiatry), Dorothea Buck (Honorary Chair of the German Federal Organisation of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, and David Oaks (Director of MindFreedom International).
[11] Since the 1970s, the psychiatric survivors movement has grown from a few scattered self-help groups to a worldwide network engaged in protecting civil rights and facilitation of efforts to provide housing, employment, public education, research, socialisation and advocacy programmes.
In 2001, the network held its First General Assembly in Vancouver, British Columbia, with 34 groups from twelve countries represented, and adopted its governing statutes.
It adopted the Kampala Declaration stating its positions on the CRPD, which was later expanded into a longer version adopted by consensus of the board and the participants in the Kampala GA.[12] The European Network of (Ex-) Users and Survivors of Psychiatry is the most important European NGO of (ex-) users and survivors.
Every 2 years, delegates from the ENUSP members in more than 40 European countries meet at a conference where the policies for the coming period are set out.
ENUSP is involved in commenting and debating declarations, position papers, policy guidelines of the EU, UN, WHO and other important bodies.