Strategies to reduce the impact of the financial crisis should be viewed as an opportunity to improve the way mental health services are financed and delivered. I am confident this can be achieved and that staff at all levels will collaborate and work together to deliver services in a more flexible way. Given the substantial resources already invested in mental health services, the reconfiguring and remodelling of resources will be the main focus for the immediate future. Collaboration is a fundamental principle in A Vision for Change. Solutions to meeting people's mental health needs require effective partnerships where managers, professionals, service users and carers work together in forging relationships, utilising resources and involving service users as legitimate collaborators in their own recovery.