Sir Norman Lamb was the Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk from 2001 to 2019 and was appointed Minister of State for Care and Support at the Department of Health in September 2012 until the end of the Coalition Government in May 2015. In 2019, Norman received a knighthood for his services to mental health and from 2020 to 2025, he was Chair of South London and Maudsley Foundation Trust, a specialist Mental Health Trust. Professor Tanya Byron is a chartered clinical psychologist and Times columnist and has written the foreword to the book. Be More Human is a serious, timely and necessary intervention, one that challenges us to rethink how we understand mental distress and how we care for one another – with humanity, dignity and ambition at the centre. We live in a country in which community is fading, inequality is growing, and discrimination is still far too common. At the same time, services dedicated to our wellbeing and mental health can feel less than human – ignoring or even adding to this growing crisis. Sir Norman Lamb – former Health Minister, NHS trust chair, and dedicated mental health campaigner – has seen the cracks in the system up close. In this book, he sets out to answer the questions above, and many others, uncovering the real reasons why our mental health services are failing. In its pages you’ll read eye-opening stories from patients who have been let down, but you will also hear inspiring tales from trailblazers who are shaking things up with creative, community-first solutions.

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