Dr Deena Ashoorian, a pharmacist and senior lecturer at the University of Western Australia, explains the role of medication in treating mental illness. Her research has focused on finding better ways to care for mental health consumers, including looking at obstacles faced by patients in taking medication as prescribed and improving medication adherence. Dr Deena Ashoorian explains the concept of 'shared decision making' as a solution to improving medication adherence and we explore the role of trust, compassion, respect and hope.