Elizabeth Cotton is a writer and educator in the field of mental health at work. Previously she was head of education for the Miners’ International and is now a Senior Lecturer at Middlesex University specialising in employment relations and mental health at work.
Elizabeth is the founder of Surviving work www.survivingwork.org an intervention and critical resource for working people on how to do it. Her new book Surviving Work in Healthcare (published by Routledge) offers a critique of healthcare management and offers an alternative model of solidarity of work. It has been nominated for the Chartered Management Institute’s book of the year.
When: Thursday 16 November 2017 (6pm – 8pm)
Venue: 5th floor Lecture Theatre, The Tavistock Centre, 120 Belsize Lane, London, NW3 5BA
Fee: Free
Speaker: Elizabeth Cotton
Chair: Julian Lousada
Julian Lousada is a psychoanalyst, organisational consultant and a founding partner of Peoplein-systems. He is a former clinical director of the adult department at the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust. He wa previously chair of the British Psychoanalytic Council.
This seminar will present the results of the 2016 Surviving Work Survey, which looked at the future of work in the therapeutic sector. Over 1500 people working in mental health from across the UK answered straightforward questions about their working conditions, incomes, concerns and experiences. The results of the survey will be launched atwww.thefutureoftherapy.org (website live from 13 November 2017).
Elizabeth will comment on the emerging sectoral trends: the growth of self-employment and un-waged work, performance management and the tyranny of targets,and the role of the therapeutic training and professional bodies in defending quality services The answers open up a debate about how can frontline workers prepare for the future of work in the current crisis?
For more information and tickets visit:
Attendees from past AD4E events have included people who identify as the following :-
people with lived experience of emotional distress, supporters of people with lived experience, survivors, psychologists, journalists, activists, counsellors, service users, service refusers, psychotherapists, mental health support professionals, psychiatrists, managers and individuals with a general personal interest.
The event features not just professionals but people from a diverse range of backgrounds who have an essential contribution to make to the debate.
Lucy Johnstone presents the current debates and controversies about psychiatric diagnosis. It is increasingly acknowledged, even within the mental health establishment, that categories like ‘schizophrenia’, ‘bipolar disorder’ and ‘personality disorder’ lack validity. The assumption that distress is best understood as disease can have very serious consequences for the individual, their identity, and their path to recovery. Lucy will present alternatives to diagnosis which can help people to make sense of experiences of distress, however extreme, and which are based on working together to explore personal meaning.
Jacqui Dillon’s talk ‘Rasing our Voices’ will also take place in the morning session. (details to follow)
Gary Sidley, Lucy Johnstone and Jacqui Dillon will all be offering workshops in the afternoon.
This one day conference will be held at the University of Manchester on Wednesday 28 June 2017. It will be an all-day, low-cost conference (to cover refreshments on the day), with a lower rate for subscribers to Asylum Magazine.
ISPS Conference in Liverpool, 30 August – 3 September 2017
Interested in Psychosis? Interested in real change for the better? The ISPS 2017 conference in Liverpool, UK is for you, whatever your discipline and if you are a service use or carer. The International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis conferences have an outstanding reputation for vibrancy, conviviality, breadth of presentations and social events.
Submissions: Submit a paper, poster, symposium or workshop before December 1st. Please go to www.isps2017uk.org
Registration: We anticipate a full house, so why not make an early bird registration. Please go to www.isps2017uk.org
Please pass this message on further to your friends and colleagues. See you in Liverpool.
A public lecture by Professor Patrick Callaghan. Monday 10 October, 2016. 6pm to 9pm, Nottingham.
The myth of the mentally ill as dangerous and menacing persists despite evidence to the contrary. Risk assessment is pervasive in mental health practice. This continuing focus on risk, while well intentioned as it is in reducing harm and increasing people’s safety, has a stigmatising, and, in some cases, traumatic effect on people
using mental health services; it reinforces the myth that people who are mentally unwell are an inevitable risk to society and that through risk assessment we can minimise or eliminate this threat. Prof Callaghan will argue that it is the often unquestioned acceptance of the effectiveness of risk assessment and the unconscious bias that emerges from this narrative that poses the biggest risk. People living with mental health issues are frequently marginalised and often live in communities associated with recurrent harm and crime and that promote stigma. By classifying individuals as risky we are giving the stamp of scientific approval to society’s prejudices and fear.
Lancaster Disability Studies conference: 6th-8th September, 2016
This conference brings together researchers, practitioners, policy makers and activists from around the world, to share and debate research, ideas and developments in disability studies. 2016 will see the second Mad Studies stream.
Sunday 10th July – Tuesday 12th July 2016
Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom
Call for Presentations:
Madness: What is it? Why does it exist? Where and when does it happen? How does it happen, and to whom? Like the relation between otherness and identity, madness might have always been used to define its opposite, or defined by what it is not. Madness and its absence may even be intrinsically linked to everything we do and do not, to all we aspire and escape from; it could be part of our origins and fate. But how can it be identified, described, studied and/or treated? We propose to take an interdisciplinary approach, by which we mean one that allows us to develop dialogues about the subject from different points of view, from and between different disciplines and experiences. This will partly allow us to answer the questions above, in direct relation to the specific contexts in which madness is observed, studied and/or experienced and, it is desirable, it might also allow us all to understand that, just by being humans, none of us is actually immune to it.
This international, inter-disciplinary conference seeks to explore issues of madness across historical periods and within cultural, political and social contexts. We are interested as well in exploring the place of madness in persons and interpersonal relationships and across a range of critical perspectives. Seeking to encourage innovative inter, multi and post disciplinary dialogues, we warmly welcome papers from all disciplines, professions and vocations which struggle to understand the place of madness in the constitution of persons, relationships and the complex interlacing of self and other. In the seven previous conferences we had the participation of people who have experienced forms of madness in their personal lives, and their presentations have always been not only welcome, but also moving and illuminating for all. Such contributions based on the actual experience of madness from within have been an essential part of our conferences and this year we encourage again the submission of abstracts based on first-hand experience. Our conferences have also been increasingly enriched by the participation of artists and performers, introducing more fluid and malleable spheres and scenes within our interactions. This year we also wish to encourage and expand this by inviting delegates to submit proposals for exhibitions, performances and interventions.
The Maastricht Interview: social and biographical approaches to voice hearing and thoughts, beliefs and paranoia
Understanding Voices, Visions and Paranoia
Two days skills workshop in Bristol, 11-12 April 2016
Making Sense of Voices
Skills based workshops in Bristol, 10, 11, 12 May 2016
Artist Sanchita Islam reads from her book “Schizophrenics Can Be Good Mothers Too” on 5th Feb, Brick Lane Book Shop, 166 Brick Lane from 7pm onwards.
“‘Schizophrenics Can Be Good Mothers Too’ takes the reader on the artist Q S Lam’s journey through the labyrinthine passages of psychosis describing her strategies and struggles to recover from the impact of the illness on everyday life, drawing on her personal experience, using art, not medication, to keep well.”
To secure a place booking is recommended http://bricklanebookshop.org/events.html
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17th November 2015, 10.00 am – 4.45 pm
Trent Vineyard Conference Centre, Easter Park, Lenton Lane, Nottingham, NG7 2PXs at
Unwaged places at £25.00 are now fully booked. Please email [email protected] to go on the waiting list. We will release further places if at all possible.
The case for demedicalising mental health services is well rehearsed. The research has been done, the conferences have been held and the intellectual argument all but won. Yet on a day-to-day basis, services continue to operate within the medicalised status quo. One of the aims of this conference will be to look at how we can implement realistic, practical changes in our mental health practice, education and lives, in order to continue the progression from rhetoric to reality.
For mental health service users / survivors, carers, professionals, students and everyone interested in critical debate in mental health care.
Peter Beresford, OBE, Professor of Social Policy and Director of the Centre for Citizen Participation at Brunel University; Chair of Shaping Our Lives, the national independent service user-controlled organisation and network. From Mental Health to Mad Studies: making involvement real. The psychiatric system has shown an almost infinite capacity to resist change. This presentation will explore the contribution ‘mad studies’ can make to breaking this log jam, as well as highlighting a set of priorities for action to achieve change.
Lucy Johnstone, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, author, lecturer, trainer and speaker. Challenging, compromising or colluding? Some thoughts on trying to bring about change in mental health systems. Lucy Johnstone will describe and discuss the obstacles to change within psychiatry, along with a range of strategies and projects which, she believes, have the potential to achieve a genuine and much-needed paradigm shift over the coming years. She will argue that we already have effective alternatives to medical model understandings of distress, although determination, clear thinking and collaborative action are needed to ensure they are fully implemented.
Pete Sanders is a director at PCCS Books. He has worked as a counsellor, psychotherapist ,clinical supervisor, lecturer and trainer, and is PCCS Books’ best-selling author. If therapy could be part of positive action for change, what sort of therapy would it be? Therapy has been criticised as being a collection of branded, top-down, expert-led, bourgeois prescriptions for people in distress or those living different lives. Even when the ‘client’ is put at the centre and directs the therapy themselves, it has been caricatured as a sort of monetised kindness. Could any therapy be useful and empowering? This presentation is an attempt to unpick the problem and suggest ways forward.
Sami Timimi is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Director of Medical Education for the National Health Service in Lincolnshire, and a Visiting Professor of Child Psychiatry and Mental Health Improvement at the University of Lincoln. Beyond diagnosis: developing an outcome orientated approach. This presentation will address the evidence that highlights why using psychiatric diagnosis to understand mental distress and to organise mental health services is not a supportable approach to maximising the likelihood of improving the mental well-being of patientsIt will then outline the ‘outcome orientated’ approach as an existing, evidence-based alternative.
The venue and travel:
Trent Vineyard Conferencing is a modern and conveniently located venue on the edge of Nottingham city centre and is easily accessible by road, rail and air.
The venue has full wheelchair access and a hearing loop.
Click here for more venue information and travel advice
Asylum Magazine Meeting, 15th May 2014
Time: 6:00-8:00pm
Venue Room G33, Business School, MMU All Saints Campus
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British Sociological Association
Sociology of Mental Health Study Group symposium
Social Movements and Sociological Knowledge on Mental Health:
Where are we now?
Friday 13th June 10 a.m. – 5 pm
University of Wolverhampton, City campus
The British Sociological Association’s Sociology of Mental Health Study Group is 10 years old
this year. Its programme of work has included exploration of links between academic sociology
and social movements in mental health and between the women’s and mental health sectors.
This symposium seeks to build on this programme to explore the contributions of a range of
social movements to sociological knowledge on mental health and the relationships between
these movements. The event will provide a space for critical reflection and discussion on:
i) the ways in which the psychiatric survivor movement, the disabled people’s (disability)
movement, the trade union movement and the women’s (feminist) movement and their
social histories have shaped sociological knowledge on mental health;
ii) overlaps, links, commonalities and synergies, as well as differences, points of departure
and tensions between these movements; and
iii) the possibilities or otherwise for alliances between these social movements and between
the movements and academia in sociological knowledge construction and social action for
the future concerning mental health.
The event will offer space for multi-disciplinary debate and discussion of the interface between
disciplinary/study/practice areas concerned with social perspectives on mental health (e.g.
Medical Sociology, Education, Disability Studies, Women’s Studies, Critical Psychology, Social
Psychiatry; Nursing, Social Work, Community Development) and provide the opportunity for
coalescing sociological knowledge on mental health from a range of study and practice areas.
Speakers: Professor Diana Rose, Institute of Psychiatry; Dr Janet Wallcraft, University of
Wolverhampton; Dr Sarah Carr, Sarah Carr and Associates Ltd, Universities of Birmingham and
York and trustee for the National Survivor User Network (NSUN); Matthew Danaher, Unison; Dr
Mick McKweon, School of Health, University of Central Lancashire; Professor Simone Fullager,
Department of Education, University of Bath; Dr Patsy Staddon, Women’s Independent Alcohol
Support and University of Plymouth; Dr Karen Newbigging, Institute of Applied Social Sciences,
University of Birmingham; Dr Lydia Lewis, Institute of Education, University of Wolverhampton;
Dr Helen Spandler, School of Social Work, University of Central Lancashire.
Cost: £20 for BSA members; £25 for non-members (to include refreshments and lunch). We
may be able to offer some funded places (to cover registration fee and travel) for third sector,
service user, carer and student delegates (dependent on the outcome of a funding application;
please e-mail or call Dina at the address and telephone number below to register your interest
in receiving one of these).
To register: http://portal.britsoc.co.uk/public/event/eventBooking.aspx?id=EVT10368 (by 4th
Enquiries: Dina Poursanidou at [email protected] or 07792 358092;
Lydia Lewis at [email protected] or 01902 323251
Organisers: Dina Poursanidou, University of Manchester; Lydia Lewis, University of Wolverhampton;
Patsy Staddon, Women’s Independent Alcohol Support and University of Plymouth; and Angela Cotton,
University of Salford.
BSA Sociology of Mental Health Study Group web site: www.britsoc.co.uk/medsoc/MedSocMentalHealth.aspx
June)
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FIRST CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT
CALL FOR WORKSHOP PRESENTATIONS
‘CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON AND BEYOND PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSES’
12 AND 13 NOVEMBER 2014, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK, IRELAND
SCHOOL OF APPLIED SOCIAL STUDIES AND SCHOOL OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK, IRELAND IN ASSOCIATION WITH CRITICAL VOICES NETWORK IRELAND
The latest edition (2013) of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) V has once again intensified the debate about the value of psychiatric diagnoses in understanding and responding to a wide range of human experiences of emotional distress. This conference, now in its 6th responses beyond psychiatric diagnoses.
Call for Oral Presentations/Workshops (45 minutes’ duration): Please submit an abstract (in Word – 250 words max) related to the conference theme and outlining the aims of and intentions by 5 September 2014. Please also submit a brief bio (in Word – 150 words max). Please email abstract and bio to [email protected]. Inquiries to [email protected] or [email protected] Registration details will be circulated in early September 2014.
The Conference organisers are Harry Gijbels, Catherine McAuley School of Nursing and Midwifery, and
Lydia Sapouna, School of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork, Ireland.
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6th World Hearing Voices Congress, Odysseying with the Sirens: Struggling towards recovery in times of crisis:
http://www.symvoli.gr/conference/hearingvoices/en/page/main
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October 16th, 2013, PCCS Books Anniversary Conference
http://www.pccs-books.co.uk/blog/anniversary-conference/
Conference in Celebration of 20 Years of PCCS Books
Proceeds to the Soteria Network UK
October 16th 2013, 10.00am – 4.30pm
Clarendon Suites, Birmingham.
Speakers
Richard Bentall, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Liverpool
The myth that schizpohrenia is a genetic disease
Mick Cooper, Professor of Counselling, University of Strathclyde
Are the facts friendly? Person-centred therapy in an era of ‘evidence-based’ practice
Jacqui Dillon, Chair of the Hearing Voices Network, England
The history and work of the Hearing Voices Network – the personal is still political
Stephen Joseph, Professor of Psychology, Health and Social Care, University of Nottingham
The positive psychology of the person-centred approach
Joanna Moncrieff, Senior Lecturer, University College London, consultant psychiatrist
Mother’s little helper: The politics of consumerism and psychoative drug use
Clare Shaw, Trainer, Consultant, activist and poet. I do not believe in silence: How words can change the world
Lisbeth Sommerbeck, clinical psychologist, accredited specialist in psychotherapy
Danish Psychological Association
Rebutting criticisms of applying person-centred therapy with clients diagnosed with psychosis
PCCS Books is celebrating 20 years of independent publishing this year with a one-day conference bringing together experts in their fields who share the desire for honest, democratic, equal and fully informed care for people in distress. The speakers represent the dominant themes in PCCS Books’ lists: person-centred psychology, critical psychology and psychiatry, and service-user perspectives.
Of interest to service users, carers, professionals, academics, students and everyone interested in critical debate on mental health care.
Fees (including lunch and refreshments):
Earlybird: £65.00 before 30th August; £75.00 31st August – 14th October; Service-users:£20.00. Please note there will be an additional £10.00 administrative charge if you want your organisation to be invoiced for your place.
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Ruminations on Madness, November 2013
More details on Ruminations on Madness
and here at: http://www.hssr.mmu.ac.uk/trauma/november-2013-ruminations-on-madness/
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The Social Causes of Psychosis: From Heresy to Certainty / Monday 18th November 6:30 – 8:30pm/Liverpool)
An event for professionals who work with people with psychosis, and to those with personal
experience of psychosis and their families and friends.
Monday 18th November 6:30 – 8:30pm
@ Liverpool Quaker Meeting House, 22 School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BT
Speakers: Professor John Read, Derry Hunter and Neil Caton
More details: ISPS UK Liverpool Event – November 2013
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INTAR Conference 2014
INTAR Conference, Liverpool 2014: Call for Contributions
The INTAR 2014 Conference, which will be held in the University of Liverpool on 25th – 27th June 2014, is calling for ideas for contributions. The attached document gives full details of what we are looking for, and how to apply to be involved.
The key conference themes are:
Confirmed plenary speakers include:
How to be involved
INTAR prides itself on being inclusive and engaged. We want to hear your ideas for presentations, workshops and performances that relate to the above key themes. We are particularly keen to hear from mental health service survivors, service users and carers. We also welcome contributions from students who are interested in critical perspectives of mainstream approaches to mental health care.
We are particularly keen that people who have never before presented at a conference can participate fully in the proceedings. We hope to encourage and facilitate as many people as possible to be involved in debates, questions and activities. We have therefore organised the conference so that there are different ways for people to contribute:
WORKSHOPS – these sessions will maximise audience participation. Alternatively, they may focus upon key problems, opportunities or challenges relating to the key themes of the event, and attempt to draw out audience contributions to addressing these issues. These sessions will be 60 minutes in length.
SHOWCASES – sessions that present the work of specific service user and carer involvement initiatives within community groups and organisations, health and social care practice, and Higher Education Institutions, health and social care practice and the voluntary sector. The emphasis will be on the practice and experience of user and carer involvement its impact and outcomes. These sessions will be of 60 minutes duration and might involve a number of short stories that offer the experiences of project participants from various perspectives (e.g. users and /or survivors, carers, project workers, researchers, students). Group discussion will be encouraged to explore, with presenters, possible solutions to key problems identified or discussion of strategy. The emphasis will be upon sharing experiences, celebrating innovation and good practice, and learning from each other.
PAPERS – these sessions will typically involve short presentations (20 minutes) with a short time for questions afterwards. These might involve reflections on practice, research studies or biographical accounts. There may also be theoretical papers which present critical thinking in relation to key conference themes.
PERFORMANCES – these sessions will be performances of different forms of creative arts relevant to the conference themes. For example, they might involve short pieces of drama or dance, readings of poetry or prose, music performances, or even stand-up comedy. These will be of 30 minutes duration.
EXHIBITIONS AND STALLS – There will also be opportunities for static exhibitions of artwork or creative writing, video instillations etc. There will be space for a number of stalls for voluntary and community groups, healing communities, co-operatives and social enterprises, and others who are working towards socially and ethically derived practices in relation to emotional distress.
We aim to make the whole conference as interactive as possible and accessible to all participants. Participants are encouraged to present their work and facilitate sessions in plain language.
Please submit your idea for any of the above (this should be no more than 250 words, with reference to which of the key themes your contribution will fit) by email to: INTAR@liverpoolmentalhealth.
Or by post to:
The Liverpool Mental Health Consortium, 151 Dale Street, Liverpool, L2 2AH
The deadline for this is: December 31st 2013
All ideas for contributions will be reviewed by the conference committee, who will aim to respond within 3 weeks of the deadline.
Please see here for more information about INTAR.
We look forward to hearing from you!
With best wishes
Jackie Patiniotis
INTAR Conference Administrator
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ARCHIVE OF EVENTS
August 6th, 2013, Preston Public Debate
The 2nd Preston Public Debate on ‘mental health’ issues, in association with Asylum Magazine, will be held at the Council for Voluntary Services (CVS) in Preston, within their Conference Suite at the end of Guild Hall Arcade in the city centre, from 6pm-8pm on Tuesday August 6th 2013. Timing for the start and finish of the event will be very strict as security require the venue to be vacated on time: any last minute attempts at announcements, especially unrelated to the event, will not be welcomed. The venue costs 25pound to hire, so any voluntary contributions on the night will be very appreciated, but the event itself is free. The evening will be hosted by William Park, a member of the Asylum Collective, who will give a summary of previous points raised and some indications of possible ways forward, in order to capture one of the main motivations for the debates: to have an ongoing public dialogue which, in time, may slowly alter stigma and negative perceptions around ‘mental health’ issues.
The theme of this 2nd event will be ‘alternative spirituality’ and linking this to improved well-being. Lorna Smithers, who has a blog lornasmithers.wordpress.com will talk on the subject of Paganism. Tamasin Knight, a member of the Asylum Collective, will draw on ideas from her publication ‘Beyond Belief’. Most of the second hour will be devoted to a discussion around the subjects presented, as well as a general ongoing discussion on mental health. Refreshments will be available. Contact William Park on william.park[at]talk21.com for any enquiries.
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July 23, 2013, Soteria Meeting, Manchester. Meet at 7pm at Falafel on Wilmslow Road.
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St Dymphna’s Seminar Day. See Website for more information: http://
Soteria Meeting in Manchester
We are meeting again to discuss setting up the Soteria house in Manchester.
We are meeting on 28th January 2013 at Falafel 26 Wilmslow Road, M14 5TQ Manchester http://goo.gl/maps/LJXNf at 6.00 pm. Do come along and invite your friends too.
We will be discussing ideas about funding, approaching groups and about housing. If you can’t make it do send us your ideas and how we can work towards setting up a Soteria house. If you have articles that support the Sotieria model of treatment do send them in too.
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Wahl bar in Fallowfield, Manchester, 18:00-23:00
BANDS:
2 SICK MONKEYS – https://www.facebook.com/2sickmonkeys
Easily the best band in the world! 2 of the hardest working people around, toured Europe up and down and put on a show that blows everyone else to pieces! And Lonely Planets ‘Europe On A Shoe String’ needs to be re-edited and base it around 2SM….
GUNPOWDER PLOT – https://www.facebook.com/Gunpowderplotuk
These have been a favourite band of ours for many moons…. After feeling gutted from their split in 2004, i heard rumours of a reform in 2012, and after watching them live, realised they are just as good as they were. We are recording their new album for a release on Pumpkin fairly soon, and it’s sounds amazing, well worth checking out if you have never heard of them.
EPIC PROBLEM – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Epic-Problem/218013441556498
Another band who are getting a new release out on Pumpkin imminently. Jake has been a close friends of ours for many years, so we would help him out with gigs anytime, and luckily for him he’s in the best band to come out of New Mills since Temporal Distortion………. Oh wait, he was in them too, i mean Blitz then….. hang on……..
HOLIDAY – https://www.facebook.com/sunshinemyass
Pop punk for people with dreadlocks. After many years of talks, Holiday have finally got their asses into gear and are ready to make you feel unhappy, happy, and hopefully a little bit fonder of pop punk (yes we know it’s not cool to like it…….)
Asylum Magazine at the Manchester and Salford Anarchist Bookfair
Asylum Magazine hosts a stall at the Anarchist Bookfair for the second year running. Stop by, say hi and pick up a copy of Asylum magazine.
Saturday, December 1st, 2012
Manchester and Salford Anarchist Bookfair
Asylum London Group Meeting
The next meeting will be at the University of East London on Monday 3 December. At 5.30pm there will be a short presentation about the magazine by Dave, followed by a meeting from 6.00pm-7.00pm. Email [email protected] for details.
Public Debate: Do we care about our Mental Health and the Mental Health of others?
Free Event, November 27th, 2012, 6-8pm, Preston Council for Voluntary Service Unit 23-27, Guild Hall Arcade, Lancaster Road, Preston.
With Speakers from Asylum Magazine
All welcome!
Download Poster
Listen to an interview about this event on Preston FM with Asylum Collective’s illiam Park
ASYLUM Magazine Special Issue launch: Anti-Capitalism and Mental Health.
Wednesday 3rd October, 2012, 6pm Sandbar, Manchester (M1 7HL).
Join us on Wednesday 3rd October to celebrate the launch of this special issue of ASYLUM. The editors will be joined by contributors as well as members of the ASYLUM team to talk about the issue and answer questions. Come along to meet other people working in the area and have a drink and some food. 10% off food and drink at the bar. Acoustic music from 9:30pm. Free entry. All welcome! See you there!
Sandbar Location:
reVision Launch, 20th September 2012, Liverpool
Invitation to the Launch of reVision (formerly The Joint Forum)
We are a coalition of radical activists who believe in the social model of mental health.
We are seeking to be a voice for change by promoting and exploring knowledge and
understandings of the social, economic and political causes of mental distress, and by
proposing socially derived alternatives to medicalised approaches.
Our vision is a society in which the social causes of mental distress are understood and
treated with socially based solutions that improve individual lives and bring about wider
social change.
We are launching our organisation on Thursday 20th on September 2012
At Liverpool John Moores University, Room 5.04, Avril Robarts, 79 Tithebarn Street,
Liverpool, L2 2ER from 1.00 to 4.00pm
We will be welcoming new members to the organisation at the launch, and are looking for
people who seek radical alternatives to psychiatry and who have a critical, political
understanding of the social causes of mental distress.
Our keynote speakers will be:
Please email [email protected] to confirm your attendance
Bridge Beyond Belief – an invitation
At the Bridge Collective and the Spacex Gallery, Exeter, Friday 5th October 2012
10am to 4pm
Free and open to all. Please send your email address to andrew.bridgecollective@
The Bridge Collective is a community owned company in Exeter whose members are creating a democratic community where people who have experiences, beliefs, and feelings that have sometimes been labelled as mental illness are welcomed and can talk about these experiences freely, safely and without judgement; a place to participate in friendship, support, learning, teaching, discussion, being active, and making a valid contribution both within the collective and the wider community. Find out more at http://www.bridgecollective.
A strong element in the Bridge is creative activity, including Underground Sound (music), the Women’s Art Group, and the Greenwood Project (environmental arts and crafts and outdoor living).
The Bridge was closely associated with the publication of the first edition of Tamasin Knight’s book “Beyond Belief” now available free in an expanded e-book edition from Peter Lehmann (http://www.peter-lehmann-
The Bridge Collective and the Beyond Belief Network will be putting on an event to tell people more about the book, the collective, and the stories behind them this Autumn. It will be free and open to all. It will include:
The Bridge Collective
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.bridgecollective.org.uk
London Asylum Group
The inaugural meeting of the London Asylum Group is at: 6.30-7.30pm Thursday 18 October, 2012 at Studio 2 (first floor), Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, Bethnal Green, London E2 6HG (http://www.oxfordhouse.org.
Following the lead of other local groups like the one in Manchester, the aim of the group is to support the work of the Asylum: The magazine for democratic psychiatry.
Asylum needs volunteers to help raise the magazine’s profile: to increase subscriptions (so that it can continue to grow) and to let people know it is a place for them to send and read interesting articles, poems and artwork.
The main item on the agenda will be staffing a stall at the London Anarchist Bookfair (http://anarchistbookfair.org.
The bookfair is the kind of place where we might interest new subscribers. At the meeting on 18/10 we can also spend some time thinking about other events where we might sell the magazine.
Email us at [email protected] if you can’t make this meeting but would like to join the London Asylum group.
Asylum @ the Festival of Public Health
Tamasin Knight (of the Editorial Collective) and Janice Hartley gave a talk about Asylum at the Festival of Public Health in Manchester on July 2nd 2012. Asylum had a stall there too, where delegates could drop by and check out the magazine.
Asylum North West Meeting, 6:00-8:00pm, 28th March 2012
The next meeting of Asylum North West is at 6.00-8.00pm on Wednesday 28th March in Room 0.07 of John Dalton Building of MMU, on Oxford Road opposite where the BBC used to be. Everyone is welcome…bring a friend! We can have a chat about the new issue, and perhaps about organising a more open public meeting / event with speakers. We’ll try and bring some copies of the new issue to buy as well.
SWAN Conference in Liverpool, March 2012
Asylum will be attending the SWAN conference in Liverpool in March 2012. Come and visit our stall or attend an Asylum talk at Liverpool Hope University, 30-31 March, 2012.
Asylum will be at Tent City University, Occupy London, 29th January 2012
January 29th, 2012 3:00 – 5:00 pm
Location: Tent City Uni
Description: Speakers China Mills and colleagues will start the discussion
China Mills is involved with Asylum magazine for democratic psychiatry based in Manchester (www.asylummagazine.org) and will talk about the magazine and her work. She says: “I’m interested in the dominance of the pharmaceutical industry in understanding people’s distress, and particularly how distress caused by economic reforms, and Structural adjustment policies gets re-interpreted through bio-psychiatry and Big Pharma as ‘mental illness’, meaning the site of intervention and transformation is the individual brain, usually through medications, glossing over socio-political conditions. I have spent some time in India, exploring these issues, and also working with grassroots mental health organisations, and running workshops on the survivor movement and on hearing voices.”
Asylum Stall at the Manchester and Salford Anarchist Book Fair, Saturday, December 3rd, 2011
Drop by the Asylum stall at the anarchist book fair this Saturday between 10am and 4pm. We’ll be sharing a stall with the Disability Action Network.
Asylum Talk at Manchester Metropolitan University, November 23rd, 2011
This session, chaired by China Mills and with guest speakers William Park from Preston and Dean Smith from Fleetwood focused on why struggles in the field of mental health are part of the field of critical psychology, describing the work of the radical magazine ‘Asylum: The Magazine for Democratic Psychiatry’
Asylum at the University of Huddersfield, November 2011
Asylum members gave a talk at the University of Huddersfield.
Asylum Workshop at the OK Cafe, Manchester, Tuesday, 23rd October 2011
Asylum gave a workshop and discussion session on why mental health politics should matter to anti-capitalists.
Asylum Conference, Manchester, September 14-15, 2011
Asylum Collective and our friends and supporters in the Critical Psychiatry Network, Hearing Voices Network and Psychology Politics Resistance met to discuss alternatives to pathological labels of ‘mental illness’.
Email us at [email protected] for more information on any of the above events or to join our emailing list.
