Survivor Researcher Network (SRN) News

Welcome to our first edition

The Survivor Researcher Network (SRN) aims to provide mental health service users and survivors involved and interested in research a forum for networking, sharing information, and supporting each other.

We are keen to acknowledge and promote the diversity of experiences, identities and backgrounds of survivor researchers and to challenge the marginalisation of some communities in mental health research (including user-led research), in terms of access to resources, participation and leadership. 

As part of our ongoing plan to re-launch the network we aim to send regular SRN updates to members every six weeks. We hope that this newsletter format will help offer a platform for you to share your own research, including your experiences of/views on survivor research. We would like the newsletter to include:

• Your own research 
• Links to the latest research reports, papers and blogs 
• Events and conferences
• Job opportunities
• Grants
• Calls for papers

We are currently looking for funding to keep the network alive. If you know of any local or national sources please let us know. E-mail Emma (or call 07885 964293). 

Research into what LGB&T people want from health and social care.

A new project from the National LGB&T Partnership aims to investigate, and inform policy makers of, what LGB&T people want from health and social care services.

Working with National Voices, the resource will outline what LGB&T people want from health and social care services, describe the key areas of concern, and make recommendations to improve services for LGB&T people.

To take part in this important piece of work, complete the survey HERE.
The online survey will close on 8th January 2016.

Final call for posters

History of Mental Health: Joint Annual Conference of the History and Philosophy of Psychology section and the UK Critical Psychiatry Network

The British Psychological Society's History & Philosophy of Psychology Section in collaboration with the UK Critical Psychiatry Network is inviting submissions for its 2016 Annual Conference to be held at Leeds Trinity University Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd March.

The theme of the conference is the history of mental health. Poster submissions are invited in related areas such as clinical psychology, psychiatry, service users, resistances to psychiatry, critical perspectives and interventions. Further submission guidelines can be found here.

If you are interested in presenting a poster at the conference then please make your submission via the submission webpage  by 23:59 Sunday 17th January 2016.

Study examines Women's Experience of Hearing Voices 

An international group of researchers from multiple disciplines has published a historical, qualitative, and quantitative investigation into voice-hearing in women. The interdisciplinary project, freely available from Frontiers in Psychiatry, explores how sexism, exploitation, and oppression bear on women’s experiences of hearing voices.

You can read more about the study on the Mad in America website. 

Call for papers: Offering Food <--> Refusing Food

Feeding and eating are group behaviours. From the very beginning of social life there is not only a feeding pair but also an audience. For a Special Issue, the Journal for Psycho-Social Studies seeks to gather psycho-social and philosophical perspectives – together with the voices of lived experience – to explore and discuss the disturbances of ‘groupishness’ – the ‘mad tea-party’ – that may be understood as constituting the ‘ground’ for the ‘figure’ of a feeding pair in disarray. Contributors are invited to consider the nature of the difficult encounter between the would-be feeder and the won’t-be-fed.

Authors are invited to submit a 200-300 word summary.  All potential contributions will be received and considered on an equal footing by the Guest Editors.
Deadline for abstract submissions is 31 January 2016.

For more details about this project and the Journal's policy on submissions, please visit this page.

Developing quality measures for people with psychosis

Would you like to help develop quality measures for services for people with psychosis? Have your say!

• How do we know that a psychosis service is high quality?
• What should we be looking for?

The McPin Foundation is working with NHS England and they would like to invite people with lived experience of psychosis or carers of someone who has experienced psychosis to help us answer these questions. They will be holding two workshops to discuss these issues and help identify suitable quality measures for psychosis services: 
Monday 25th January 2016 in Leeds
Friday 29th January 2016 in London

Download the flyer by clicking here. You can also access further information by visiting the website.

Reasonable travel expenses will be covered, lunch will be provided and anyone attending will receive a £20 a shopping voucher as a thank you for their time
If you are interested please email or call  020 7922 7877.

The 2nd Annual Conference on Peer-supported Open Dialogue 

Jointly organised by North East London NHS Foundation Trust and the Academy of Peer-supported Open Dialogue.

Monday 25 April, 2016 (10am - 6pm), Logan Hall, 20 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL Click here for more information on the location

At the conference you will hear from the first UK staff trained in Peer-supported Open Dialogue and peers working in Open Dialogue teams across the UK. Click here to read more about the POD approach. 

Tickets for the day conference are donation based - pay as much or as little as you choose, starting at £1. Click here to buy tickets