Update as of 11/11/2025: NSUN is currently closed for blog pitch submissions.
Since launching the opportunity, we have seen a much higher rate of pitches than predicted, and need to allow our team sufficient time to consider and commission existing submissions.
We will publish any updates to this decision on this page and via our weekly bulletin.
Thank you for your interest in writing for NSUN.
We accept pitch submissions from NSUN members (individuals with lived experience of mental ill-health, distress, or trauma as well as user-led groups). If you are not an NSUN member, please register before submitting a pitch. The commissioned blogs will be published on the NSUN website as a Member’s Blog and shared via our weekly bulletin and social media channels.
We ask for published pieces to be roughly between 500–1000 words (with room for flexibility) and pay £150 per blog.
What to pitch
We welcome pitch submissions on topics related to NSUN’s work. This could include:
Mad liberation and mental health justice
- The concepts of (and commodification of) ‘lived experience’ and ‘co-production’
- Critiques of existing mental health care, and imagined alternatives
- Mental health under capitalism and violent state systems
- The history of the Survivor/user movement
Social justice and mental health
- Racial justice and mental health
- Trans justice and mental health
- Migrant justice and mental health
- Disability justice and mental health
UK mental health and disability policy
- Responses to new developments in mental health policy, research and services
- Alternative and abolitionist approaches to mental health policy
- Welfare reform
- Surveillance in mental health
The work of grassroots and user-led mental health groups
- Spotlight on new groups and campaigns
These example topics relate to NSUN’s current work, and as such pitches around these themes may be prioritised. However, you are welcome to submit a pitch on any subject relating to our broader focus of mental ill-health, distress and trauma. We also accept book and zine reviews.
To get a sense of the type of content we publish, you can visit the NSUN Members’ blog or click the links below to read some examples:
- Capitalist mental health: how CBT is failing us by Almas Talib and Max Cardona
- We should be sceptical of trauma-informed care by Chloe Apter
- What is the medical model and why are some people ‘anti’ it?’ by Nima Cas Hunt
Eligibility
Pitch submissions are open to all NSUN members: UK-based writers with lived experience of mental ill-health, distress or trauma.
You do not need to have written or published elsewhere before. If you have been published on the NSUN Members’ blog in the past, you are still welcome to submit a pitch.
There is the option to publish the piece anonymously or under your first name only or a pseudonym.
Commissioning process
Please note that submitting a pitch for consideration does not guarantee publication on the NSUN website, as we receive a higher number of blog submissions than we are able to publish.
When selecting which blogs to commission, we make our decisions based on whether the pitch:
- speaks to a subject in line with NSUN’s work
- clearly and convincingly outlines the full blog
- stands in line with NSUN’s approach to mental health policy and mainstream services (you can get more of a sense of this by reading about our policy work and our history and the language we use)
NSUN is a critical mental health charity, working to challenge mainstream mental health practices, privilege the voices and experiences of individuals with lived experience whose perspectives are not often platformed elsewhere, and centre intersectional social justice. We may not choose to commission blogs which:
- offer direct advice (e.g. ‘self-help’ tips) which may cause unintended harmful consequences
- intend to sell products or services
- focus on mainstream narratives of ‘recovery’ and the steps towards it
NSUN operates with a small team and limited capacity, and as such will not be able to offer feedback on blog pitches which are not selected for publication.
If your blog is not accepted for publication, please review the above guidelines before resubmitting. We ask that contributors submit no more than one pitch every three months.
Timeline after submission
- We will aim to contact you within three weeks following form submission to let you know if we would like to commission your piece
- If so, we will ask for a first draft of your full blog to be received within three weeks (with room for flexibility)
- We will aim to provide editorial feedback within one week of receiving your first draft
- We will give you an idea of when we are thinking of publishing your blog as soon as we can. At busy times when we have a lot of pitches and are commissioning several blogs at once, it may take a few weeks for your blog to be published, as we aim to spread them out
- We will confirm the date and approximate time for publication at least one day in advance, and provide you with a link to the live blog before it is shared elsewhere
Editorial process
When we receive your blog, we may suggest some edits, but these will be sent back to you fully tracked and will only be made if they are approved by you.
We aim to publish blogs and articles in plain English and avoid the overuse of jargon and technical terms which may be inaccessible. Edits may be suggested in line with this goal, and to improve general readability or correct spelling or grammatical errors.
At any time after publication, you can contact us if you would like to request changes to your piece, its attribution (e.g. anonymising a blog previously published under your name), or removal from the website.
How to pitch
We are asking for pitches of around 200–300 words which should include a short summary of the central idea of your piece and any examples which will be used to support it, and how you plan to conclude the piece.
We will also ask for an initial suggestion for the title of the piece, your name and pronouns (if you would like to share them).
Please feel free to include links to your writing if you have any, though this is not essential.
You can email us at info@nsun.org.uk if you have any questions, but please submit your pitch using the Google Form below, or click here to open the form in a new tab.