The Mental Health Foundation has launched a major inquiry into the Future of Mental Health Services in the UK.  They want to explore what mental health services might look like in 20 – 30 years’ time. This will involve looking ahead to assess the challenges mental health services may face in the future, and thinking creatively about the ways services can meet these challenges. It is hoped that the findings will help ensure that all mental health services are fit for purpose in the 21st…

Useful materials for generating debate in teaching:

My daughter the schizophrenic - Guardian article

Response by Gordon Milson and Sarah Brennan (Young Minds)…

Historically young people experiencing a first episode of psychosis found it difficult to obtain effective treatment. The film invites to viewer to see the world through the eyes of Karl, a 20 year old student suffering with psychosis.  The film was made to raise awareness of psychosis, reduce the stigma and reduce the delay in getting treatment.  It was made in conjunction with North Staffordshire Early Intervention in Psychosis Team.…

At the age of 19 Aidan Shingler was diagnosed as having paranoid schizophrenia.  In this film he talks about his attitude towards this diagnosis and uses animation to parody and satirise psychiastrists and psychiatry.

View film here.

This guideline covers the assessment and management of adults and young people (aged 14 years and older) who have a clinical diagnosis of psychosis with coexisting substance misuse.

Summary from the Mental Elf and download link 

This group meets from 6-8 pm on the last Monday of each month at the Friends Meeting House in Lancaster and is for all who are passionate about sustaining creative and critical practice in mental health.

Open to mental health practitioners, students, educators, service users and carers and others with an interest in engaging in discussion and debate, reciprocal learning and support.

• Share critical and creative ideas and develop strategies for putting them into…

The Ragged University project, underpinned by the concept of free education and self learning, delivers free and informal public talks in social spaces, such as pubs, cafes and libraries, around the UK, as well as uses available technology for open access learning http://www.ragged-online.com/about/ . There is a Ragged University Event (public talks) in Manchester on 19th February 2013. See…

Critical Pedagogies: Equality and Diversity in a Changing Institution

Interdisciplinary Symposium at the University of Edinburgh, 6th Sept 2013

Website

Keynote speaker: Professor Heidi Mirza (University of London)

Critical pedagogies challenge the notion that knowledge and teaching methods can be value-neutral. Our relationships within…

Janet Frame was New Zealand's best known but least public author. The author of twelve novels, four story collections, one book of poetry and three volumes of autobiography, even at the height of her success Frame shunned publicity, which had the effect of making the media and her readership even more intrusively interested.

Frame's story is extraordinary. As her biographer Michael King said, "her family was an anvil on which disasters fell". But it was the issue of Frame's mental…

An evolving collection here: http://bundlr.com/b/mental-health-history

Join and add others!

‘Attentive Writers’: Healthcare, Authorship, and Authority

Medical Humanities Research Centre, University of Glasgow, 23-25 August 2013…

A collection of essays by Conservative MPs.

Download here. 

Royal Holloway, University of London - 10-12 July 2013

Throughout the history of social work and social work education there have been struggles. Recent years have proven to be particularly challenging, and like previous challenging eras, today we witness collective strength and creative approaches to pushing back against negative forces in our environments. This year's JSWEC conference focuses on these positive forces within the profession and social work…

Asylum magazine is:

• For humane and democratic alternatives to traditional psychiatry

• A forum for free and open debate and discussion about controversial issues in mental health and psychiatry

• A platform for service users and survivors to express their views and voices, as well as for frontline workers, academics and allies

• A place for the discussion of experience, ideas and campaigning around…

I have added some links to this evolving collection on bundlr: 

http://bundlr.com/b/academia-and-mental-health

See also 'student mental health':

http://bundlr.com/b/student-mental-health

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If you join, and are interested in…

12th February 2013 - 11th June 2013, University of Leeds School of Healthcare

Patient, Carer and Public Involvement in healthcare is a cornerstone of Government policy, influenced initially by the emergence of the broad service user and public engagement movement. It has been supported, encouraged and deemed good practice by the Health related professions and their regulatory bodies (CHRE 2012). More recently Higher Education is also recognising the value of effective…

The philosophy of mind is one of the most exciting areas within philosophy. It is concerned with questions about the nature of mind and the relation between our minds and the physical world. This online course provides an introduction to philosophy of mind by introducing participants to the mind-body problem, one of the most intractable problems in philosophy.

Students will be guided through their reading of various classical and contemporary works on the mind-body problem, and…