The Mental Health Humanities Researcher Network (MHHRN) was officially born in 2023, when Drs Christina Wilkins and Rebecca Wynter were awarded funding by the British Academy Early Career Researcher Network. Two events developed ideas about interdisciplinary new and precarious researchers in mental health and illness, and what would best serve such scholars and how a network might shape the future of mental health humanities. MHHRN is associated with the Mental Health Humanities initiative which began at the University of Birmingham during the covid-19 lockdown of early 2020.