The participation of people who use mental health services in service planning and evaluation has become increasingly important in recent years. Health planners and people who use services are seeking information about how to enable participation that is meaningful and impacts positively on service delivery. This qualitative study explored the perspectives of people who use mental health services on participation in mental health service planning and evaluation. Sixty-three people from diverse backgrounds participated in either a focus group or interview. Themes were extracted from the data and resulted in a conceptual framework that can be used to guide the development and evaluation of participation.