Increasingly, planners and practitioners are considering setting up a greater level of preventive mental health care at a local level. Preventing Mental Illness in Practice aims to inform their decisions by describing characteristics of 'good practice', and identifying a number of promising approaches which are described in some detail. The review represents the second stage of a prevention research profect set up by MIND (National Association for Mental Health). The criteria used for identidying good practice are that the project: is targetted towards people known to be at high resk of mental illness; makes maximum use of existing natural, voluntary of community support networks; and supports people in a way that enhances their capacity to control their own life circumstances. The projects selected cover the life stages - from pregnancy and early childhood to old age. They are discussed in the context of relevant research findngs which give the rationale for the apporach. Ten different projects or services are described: what is provided, how the target group is engaged, the resources required, management problems, and evidence of effectiveness. Interviews with clients and service providers give colour to the descriptions with personal accounts of why the support has been needed and how, in their view, it meets those needs.