Making Sense of Madness: An emancipatory approach
7 July 2017, 10 am – 4.30pm, registration from 9.30am Hackney House, 25-27 Curtain Road, Hackney, London, EC2A 3LT https://madness-london.eventbrite.co.uk This unique, one day event, featuring Jacqui Dillon and Rai Waddingham (recently featured on BBC Horizon: Why Did I Go Mad?), explores experiences often dismissed as symptoms of serious mental illness: voices, visions, paranoia, unusual beliefs and altered states, and […]
Critical Mental Health Nurses’ Network Launch
This article was written as a review for the Mental Health Nursing Journal for their June edition. Conferences often perplex me. Heavy with anticipation, I pour through the programme hungry for something that will challenge, excite or inspire me. On a good day, I find something truly delicious – stimulating ideas or possibilities that I hadn’t expected. On […]
Alternative Mental Health Perspectives – Yorkshire AMHPs
As the Alternative Mental Health Perspectives conference approached, I felt a mix of nerves and excitement. After all, this was a fantastic opportunity to engage AMHPs across Yorkshire in both unflinchingly confronting the current problems in the mental health system and think about innovative approaches that offer real alternatives. Robert Whitaker The day launched with […]
Voices: Unlocked – Hearing Voices Groups in Prison
On 9th July, Mind in Camden’s Prison Project held a one day conference in London: ‘Voices Unlocked’. Having set up, and worked on, this project since its launch in 2010 – I was both excited and nervous to share our work with a wider audience. The day was a huge success, bringing together people from […]
Beyond Medication – Soteria Bradford
I was excited to trek up to sunny Bradford in December to take part in Soteria Bradford’s ‘Beyond Medication – How do we reduce our dependance on psychotropic drugs?’ conference. Rather than getting stuck in expounding the drawbacks and dangers to psychotropic medication, this conference also gave space to explore creative alternatives to drugs. This […]
Thinking About Psychiatric Medication
Following presenting at Bradford’s Free Thinking About Psychiatric Medication Conference, I was excited to be invited back up north to speak at a similar event in York. The conference, organised by York and Selby Rehabilitation & Recovery Service was aimed at re-launching their Thinking About Medication Group and raising awareness around medication use. Phil Thomas – […]
Conference: Giving Psychosis A Voice 2
On Thursday 8th March, I was lucky enough to be speaking at a really interesting conference hosted by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. Giving Psychosis A Voice 2 brought together a line up of speakers that I would pay to see, so to be asked to present alongside some of the great and the good […]
Conference: Medicating Human Distress
In November 2011 I was privileged to contribute to a fantastic conference ‘Medicating Human Distress: Concerns, Critiques and Solutions’ in Cork (Ireland). The conference was the second annual event arranged by the Irish Critical Voices Network and University College Cork. It featured a range of wonderful speakers and workshops, all of which brought some fresh life to […]
“You can’t sit on your arse and slide up a hill”
This week I was fortunate enough to be at the inspirational World Hearing Voices Congress in Sherwood Forest, Nottingham. There is so much that I would like to share with you from this fantastic event, but choosing a place to start has been surprisingly easy. Kelly Comans, an inspirational young woman from Australia, whilst giving […]
2nd World Hearing Voices Congress
On November 3rd & 4th, the UK is hosting the 2nd ever World Hearing Voices Congress. It’s exciting stuff, it really is. I was lucky enough to be in Maastricht last year at the first congress and it was a truly moving and empowering experience. This years speakers include: Marius Romme, Sandra Escher, Olga Runciman, Dorothy […]
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