Art speaks where words fail, though sometimes they work in conjunction. Facilitating these tough discussions through a visual medium is my way of helping the mental health community. … more
An interview with emerging outsider artist, Mud
Tag: mental health
Is it time Lived Experience Professionals set up their own union?
Our unifying theme, across all posts, is challenging sanism. We challenge it in whatever area of an organisation we work in just by being visible. … more
NSUN’s March 2023 articles & blogs roundup
“Here are all the articles, blogs, vlogs, and podcasts we’ve shared in our weekly bulletins this month. The main focus of this section in our bulletin is to share new, first person pieces written or made by people within and beyond our membership.”… more
Unionisation options for lived experience workers
“Contemplation of the different ways in which lived experience workers might become unionised, and hopefully gain power in the workplace, can open up further critical thinking about a politics of mental health and how this might be advanced by progressive trade unions.”… more
Distress and dissent within and beyond healthcare
“Strikes by healthcare workers can open up the space to question an economy which creates sickness, deprives people of the care they need to heal, and punishes those it deems ‘unhealthy’.”… more
Book Review – The Muslim, State and Mind
“As societal objects of fear, even the “best Muslim” will never be good enough to escape scrutiny and pathologisation/criminalisation through psychology and the justice system…”… more
Repositioning work, rest, and resistance in the context of the Spring of Discontent
The active solidarity that is ongoing in the UK now represents the crucial coalitional and organising work of prefiguring alternative futures – right here, in the present. … more
Alternatives to mental health crisis support: are we asking the right questions?
We need alternatives which don’t yet exist in this country, because the starting point is always to look at what currently exists, rather than ask ourselves instead what is missing…. more
Self-Harm and the Internet: A user-led critique of the proposed Online Safety Bill
An empty reassurance that the Bill would not intend to criminalise those who self-harm would be of no use to us – the experiences of people who self-harm provides ample evidence that if further criminalisation is made possible then it will occur, regardless of the Bill’s intent…. more
Participatory research in mental health and migration
Migration and mental health research can be an unequal process… Participatory research can challenge the power inequalities associated with mental health research…. more
Transitioning out of Psychiatry
I want to see better solidarity between trans and Mad movements. I want the critique of psychiatry to support trans people’s needs, and I want trans people to learn from what they share with other psychiatric survivors and service-users…. more
Understanding the identity of lived experience researchers and providers
The review found themes related to identity development, through the acronym of the EMERGES framework, a novel finding of the review. Themes of Empowerment, Motivation, Empathy of the self and others, Recovery model and medical model, Growth and Transformation, Exclusion and Survivor roots were found…… more