mental-health-workshop
The panel reflecting on the day

On 23 September 2016, many staff and doctoral researchers from the School were involved in an international, interdisciplinary event on ‘Relatedness and relationships in mental health.’

This one-day workshop was the culmination of a series of prior interdisciplinary discussion events, and formed part of a programme of work funded by the Independent Social Research Foundation. The programme was organised by Dr Zoë Boden (formerly of the University of Birmingham and now at London South Bank University) and Dr Michael Larkin (University of Birmingham).  It was designed to bring together perspectives from different disciplines, in order to develop a shared way of thinking about the roles played by relationships in mental health.

During the workshop a series of talks and discussions took place. These involved mental health service-users, service-providers, psychologists, sociologists and psychiatrists. The event was very lively and thought-provoking. There was strong consensus around the need to conduct innovative, relationally-focused research in the field of mental health. There was also much discussion about the potential benefits to service-users of a different approach to service provision, designed and delivered on a relational model.

The group have established an online discussion forum, and are now involved in steps to take the work forward. Interested readers can find out more, by reading the reflections of one of the attendees, Professor Mike Clark from the LSE. For more information about how to get involved, please contact Dr Zoë Boden or Dr Michael Larkin.