PUBLIC DEBATE: Schizophrenia & Us
What can we do better? What can we do differently?
One in every hundred people live with schizophrenia and social factors are increasingly being recognised as causes. We ask if we could be tackling the condition better or differently as a society and what role should medication play in the process.
CHAIR
Lisa Rodrigues: Lisa is a writer and mental health campaigner. She has spent most of her career in nursing and health service management, including 13 years running Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, providing mental health and related services in the South East. She recently surprised friends and colleagues by coming out about her own experiencesof depression, including a major episode last year. She now uses her understanding of stigma, including self-stigma, to raise awareness and reduce the negativity that can still be associated with mental illness. Lisa is an ambassador of the national Time to Change campaign. She coaches others in executive roles, is an Independent Member of Council at the University of Sussex and a Trustee of Grassroots Suicide Prevention – free suicide prevention app available here www.prevent-suicide.org.uk.
As well as qualifications in adult and child nursing, and health visiting, Lisa has a BA in Psychology and a Masters in Public Sector Management. She is writing a book called Becoming a Chief Executive: What they Never Told Me (Or if they did, I wasn’t listening). You can find her on Twitter @LisaSaysThis.
PANEL
Prof. Gillian Bendelow: Professor in Sociology of Health and Medicine, School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton. Before entering higher education as a mature student, Gillian worked in London’s East End as a community psychiatric nurse and her research is concerned with the social impact of chronic illness, mental and emotional health, especially from the user perspective. She currently is leading a programme of research into emergency mental health services and the use of section 136 of the Mental Health Act in Sussex.
Prof. Kathryn Abel: Kathryn Abel is Professor of Psychological Medicine & Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the University of Manchester and holds Honorary posts at the Institute of Psychiatry, London and Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm She is lead researcher for the Centre for Women’s Mental Health in Manchester and has a particular interest in gender and schizophrenia and the children of parents with severe mental illness. Her other research focuses on the effects of sex on risk for neurodevelopmetnal disorder; the effect of prenatal exposures on fetal, childhood and adult mental health outcomes. She was an author of Into the Mainstream:a policy document for the Department of Health addressing the mental health needs of women. She has developed a practical guide to the implementation of women only day services and for better reproductive and sexual health provision for people living with schizophrenia.
Dr. Rohan Morris: Dr Rohan Morris completed his PhD in Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). His research focused on the link between cannabis and psychosis with a view to identifying cannabis induced experiences which may indicate vulnerability to schizophrenia spectrum illnesses. Rohan currently works as a research assistant at the University of Manchester on a project known as Actissist. The Actissist project aims to increase access to psychological treatment by developing a mobile phone application to deliver a (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy-informed) psychological intervention for early psychosis.
Nick Putman: Nick is a psychotherapist and Open Dialogue practitioner who specialises in working with people experiencing psychosis and their families. He has spent the last 12 years living and working in a variety of community based services for people experiencing psychosis and other extreme states, including those run by the Philadelphia Association, the Arbours Crisis Centre, the Richmond Fellowship, and Windhorse in Massachusetts. Nick has undertaken the Open Dialogue training programme with Mary Olson, Jaakko Seikkula et al. in the US, and has spent considerable time with the Open Dialogue teams in Western Lapland. He is actively involved in working with others towards the establishment of a Soteria house in Brighton.
Friday 10th October
7.30pm- 9.00pm
The Basement, 24 Kensington Street, Brighton, BN1 4AJ
FREE: Booking required to ensure your place
Visit our web page: www.thebasement.uk.com/whats-on/
