Ursula Read, together with Sumeet Jain, University of Edinburgh, convened a symposium entitled ‘Recovery in the Global South’ at the Refocus on Recovery conference at the University of Nottingham on 4th September 2019. This conference brings together persons involved in recovery research and practice in mental health. The symposium featured ‘lightning talks’ from scholars conducting
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Report on symposium Recovery in the Global South 4th September 2019
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Mental Health and Justice colloquium 2019
Members of the Mental Health and Justice research project gathered across the workstreams, alongside participants of the Service User Advisory Group (SUAG) the Advisory Board and Bethlem Gallery, for the MHJ Colloquium 2019. Convening at the Wellcome Trust in London on 16 September, each workstream presented the developments and future areas of research to the
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Emma Wynne Bannister presents her PhD research at the Human Development and Capability Association
Emma Wynne Bannister presented her PhD research on “Mental health justice and the capability to live in the community as an equal member” at the HDCA (Human Development and Capability Association) conference on 11 September 2019. Her poster aimed to make a philosophical argument for a human/moral right to ‘the capability to live in the
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Avoiding hard capacity assessments will not help
In response to Zhong et al, A pragmatist’s guide to the assessment of decision-making capacity, published in The British Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 214, Issue 4 April 2019, Nuala Kane, Alex Ruck Keene, and Gareth Owen write: Avoiding hard capacity assessments will not help “We read with interest Zhong et al’s editorial outlining a ‘pragmatist’s guide’
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Approaching Complex Capacity Assessments - Maudsley Masterclass
In conjunction with Maudsley Learning, the Mental Health and Justice Project is running a one-day Maudsley Masterclass on ‘Approaching Complex Capacity Assessments’ on Tuesday 18th June and again on Wednesday 3rd July at the Ortus Centre, Denmark Hill, London. The Masterclass is directed at any clinician who frequently encounters issues around decision-making capacity whilst caring for their patients, and so should be particularly interesting and useful to psychiatrists. Teachers
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The future of Advance Decision Making in the Mental Health Act
‘Advance decision making’ refers to people planning for a future when they may become unwell. At present, people living with mental illness in England and Wales have little reassurance that advance decisions they make about their own future mental health treatment will be respected, even those decisions made during times when they are well, which
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Andrew McWilliams named a Rising Star in public engagement
Andrew McWilliams has received a “Rising Star: Public Engagement” award from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Neuroimaging at UCL. In developing a new measure of metacognition, he has made consistent effort to ensure full accessibility for all groups of people. After piloting at a public engagement event at the Tate Modern and at Latitude
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Advance decision-making in mental health – Suggestions for legal reform in England and Wales
Mental Health and Justice Workstream 3, ‘Advance Directives’, have published a new paper in International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, Volume 64, May–June 2019. Advance decision-making in mental health – Suggestions for legal reform in England and Wales is a multidisciplinary analysis of advance decision making in mental health influenced the UK Government review of the Mental Health
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Surveying the Geneva impasse: Coercive care and human rights
Surveying the Geneva impasse: Coercive care and human rights Wayne Martin, Sándor Gurbai International Journal of Law and Psychiatry Volume 64, May–June 2019, Pages 117-128 Researchers from Workstream 4, focusing on ‘insight’, publish a new paper in the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, looking at the differences between ‘coercive’ and ‘non-consensual’ care interventions under the United
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Emma Wynne-Bannister presents at the 8th Symposium of CONACYT Scholarship Holders
Emma Wynne-Bannister presented her work on the right to live in the community for persons with mental health problems at the 8th Symposium of CONACYT Scholarship Holders in Europe 8th Symposium of the CONACYT Scholarship Holders in Europe. Emma Wynne-Bannister, who carries out a PhD as part of Workstream 2, presented her work on the
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New ESRC/AHRC project on partnerships between traditional and faith healers and mental health workers to reduce coercion and restraint in Ghana
Dr Ursula Read, who leads on the research in Ghana for Workstream 2, together with Dr Erminia Colucci from Middlesex University, has successfully obtained a grant from the Global Challenges Research Fund, awarded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The project entitled “Using collaborative visual
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Integration and beyond
Sridhar Venkatapuram (WS2) publishes a response to De Rosa et al.’s call for integrating biological and social psychiatry, in International Journal of Social Psychiatry. Venkatapuram provides a brief and succinct response to De Rosa’s et al. (2018) article entitled “Social versus biological psychiatry: It’s time for integration!” He argues for paying attention to the fundamental conceptual and ethical
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Objectivity in science and law: A shared rescue strategy
A new study by Matthew Burch (WS4), and Katherine Furman is published in International Journal of Law and Psychiatry (Vol 64, May-June 2019). Objectivity in science and law: A shared rescue strategy “The ideal of objectivity is in crisis in science and the law, and yet it continues to do important work in both practices. This
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Event: Screening of ‘In Chains’ - 14 January 2024
Screening and discussion of the film ‘In Chains’, by artists and mental health activists ‘the vacuum cleaner’ (UK) and Hana Madness (Indonesia). As part of the Bethlem Gallery’s Mental Health and Justice programme Free, no need to book. 14 January 2019, 19:00. The Dragon Cafe, crypt of St George the Martyr, SE1 1JA Please see
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Open Access Gateway Misevaluating the Future: Affective Disorder and Decision-Making Capacity for Treatment – A Temporal Understanding
A new study from MHJ researchers using in-depth interviews with patients/service users experiencing mood disorder. The study aims to understand how the future is experienced from the standpoint of severe depression and mania and how this impacts on decision-making capacity for treatment. It proposes that self -determination can be effected - both in severe depression
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Mental Health and Psychosocial Directory (MHPSS) - West Bank/occupied Palestinian territory
Our Mental Health and Psychosocial Directory (MHPSS) Directory provides up-to-date information about governmental and non-governmental organisations providing mental health and psychosocial support services in the West Bank of the occupied Palestinian territory. It includes contact information, service location, types of services and activities, beneficiaries and MHPSS staffing. The directory is available in both English and
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Modernising the Mental Health Act report
The final report of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act is published today. The Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983 has set out recommendations (pdf) for the UK government on how the Act and associated practice needs to change. It cites the work of the Mental Health & Justice project on p216
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Taking capacity seriously? Ten years of mental capacity disputes before England’s Court of Protection
Abstract Most of the late 20th century wave of reforms in mental capacity or competence law were predicated upon the so-called ‘functional’ model of mental capacity, asking not merely whether a person had a mental disorder or disability but rather whether they were capable of making a specific decision (or decisions) at a specific point of time. This model is now
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“Support and Independence in the Community” present a poster at the 2018 KCL Health Inequalities Research Network (HERON) Conference
Support and Independence in the Community, presented a poster on “Community inclusion for people with psychosocial disabilities in Ghana and Palestine” at the ‘Health Inequalities Research Network’ (HERON) conference on 31st October 2018. Our PhD student, Emma Wynne-Bannister, and Research Assistant, Meryem Cicek, presented initial project findings related to Article 19 of the UN Convention
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Dr Ursula Read presents at World Psychiatric Association African Regional Congress in Addis Ababa
Dr Ursula Read, who leads on the research in Ghana for Workstream 2, presented findings from the community mapping and stakeholder interviews in Ghana at a meeting of the World Psychiatric Association in Addis Ababa in November attended by psychiatrists and researchers from across Africa and elsewhere. The title of her presentation was Supporting social
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Seminar: Effective decision-making support, Dr Shih-Ning Then
Dr Shih-Ning Then (Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology), presented a seminar in November 2018, on supported decision-making legal developments in Australia and the ‘Effective decision-making support’ project. More about Effective decision-making support: Most people require support when making decisions about their lives. They may talk to friends and family, or seek support from
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Legal capacity, mental capacity and supported decision-making: Report from a panel event
Online publication of a collaborative paper ‘Legal capacity, mental capacity and supported decision-making: Report from a panel event’ in the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. Authors: Jillian Craigie, Michael Bach, Sándor Gurbai, Arlene Kanter, Scott Y.H.Kim, Oliver Lewis, Graham Morgan Abstract Against a backdrop of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities having been
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Dr Ursula Read on Colourful Radio
Dr Ursula Read with Sonia Poleon, radio host at Colourful Radio. 20 June 2018. On 20 June 2018, Dr Ursula Read, research associate with Work Stream 2, was interviewed by Sonia Poleon on Colourful Radio, which targets Black Caribbean and African audiences. Listen to the broadcast recording below: Ursula spoke about her research into mental health
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MHJ at the King’s Policy Institute
MHJ has contributed to a King’s Policy Institute Policy briefing document entitled: “The Future of the Mental Health Act”. This has been based on 2 policy labs and a wide range of contributions. The briefing document, is feeding into the UK Government’s independent review of the Mental Health Act. To coincide with the publication of the interim
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Mental Health & Disabilities, King’s Transnational Law Summit 2018
On 12 April 2018, a panel workshop event was held at the King’s Transnational Law Summit, bringing together members from across the Mental Health and Justice work streams and invited panel members, to discuss the moral and political concerns motivating current positions on mental incapacity as a basis for limiting legal capacity and the implications
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Announcement: Bethlem Gallery awarded Wellcome Trust grant
Today, Bethlem Gallery announced that they have been awarded a grant from the Wellcome Trust to lead a four year public programme of research, working in collaboration with the Mental Health & Justice programme. A statement from the gallery follows: “We are very excited to announce we have been awarded a grant from the Wellcome
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King’s Experience Research Award
Mental Health & Justice congratulates King’s College London student Meryem Cicek for her success winning the Prize for the Best Overall Submission for the King’s Experience Research Award! Meryem provided research assistance for the project “Support and Independence within the Community” led by Hanna Kienzler. During the time of her fellowship, Meryem worked in partnership with the
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Is Involuntary Placement and Non-Consensual Treatment Ever Compliant with UN Human Rights Standards?
A Survey of UN Reports (2006-2017) Gurbai, S., Martin, W. In recent years, the issues of involuntary placement and involuntary treatment for mental health conditions have been addressed on a number of different occasions within the UN system. There is no unified UN position on the question of whether involuntary placement and treatment can be lawful under
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PhD Studentship in Supported Decision-Making 2018
University of Cambridge, UK University of Cambridge are pleased to be able to offer a funded, three-year PhD, starting in October, 2018, relating to adults with intellectual (learning) and/or other neurodevelopmental disabilities. The PhD will be supervised by Dr Isabel Clare (Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge), with Dr Jillian Craigie (Dickson Poon School of
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Video - Annual Sowerby Lecture in Philosophy and Medicine 2017
Mental Health and Justice: Classical and Romantic Perspectives Lecture: Dr. Gareth Owen, King’s College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Philosophy and Neuroscience 9 November 2023 New Hunt’s House, Theatre 2, Guy’s Campus With thanks to Philosophy & Medicine
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Keynote by Matt Matravers | Work stream 1
Matt Matravers gave the keynote address at the Faculty of Law, University of Chile as part of a seminar on ‘Intellectual, cognitive and psychosocial disability before the law’. The seminar was the concluding session of a ‘Week of Inclusion’ at the University. Matt’s talk was based on research done by Paul Skowron, presented under the
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Postdoctoral Fellowship in Neuroethics and Neurotechnology
UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences Job Location San Francisco, CA United States UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences seek a highly motivated and collaborative postdoctoral scholar to join a new interdisciplinary research project on ethical issues in the development of novel neurotechnologies at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), led by Winston Chiong, MD PhD in
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Paradigm shifts or mirages?
The Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on the compliance of United Kingdom with the CRPD makes a very substantial number of hard-hitting, difficult to read (or refute) observations and recommendations about the ways in which the United Kingdom is letting down the rights of the disabled. Link to
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Concluding-Observations-CRPD-Committee-UK
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Concluding observations on the initial report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Link to PDF
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Newly appointed research fellow | Work stream 1
Paul Skowron has been appointed as the Wellcome Research Fellow on work stream 1. He will be based at the University of York Law School and will be working primarily with Professor Matt Matravers and Dr Jillian Craigie.
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Compulsory Mental Health Treatment: When Should Judges Get Involved?
Tribunals Judiciary - Link Speech by Judge Mark Hinchliffe, Deputy Chamber President First-tier Tribunal (Health Education and Social Care Chamber) The Centre for Medical Ethics and Law – University of Hong Kong, in association with The Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Cambridge, The Ethox Centre, University of Oxford, and the Hong Kong
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Hard Capacity Cases - An English Perspective and a Plea for Help
Alex Ruck Keene 7th August 2017
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Radio 4’s Today Programme appearance
Today, Work stream 1 collaborator Michael Bach appeared on Radio 4’s Today programme, raising his concerns about extending Canadian legalised medical assistance to die to cases where the condition in question is psychological. Link
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A Mental Health Act Fit for Tomorrow
An Agenda for Reform Mental Health Alliance June 2017 “The Mental Health Act is not fit for purpose. We urgently call for a review of the Act, so that together we can protect the rights and improve care for some of the most vulnerable people in the health system.” Link
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Event: EUROsociAL+ Workshop & Seminar, Santiago
June 26th - 28th 2017 Jillian Craigie (Work stream 1) took part in a seminar and workshop in Santiago, Chile, reviewing draft law on legal capacity for people with mental disabilities, facilitated by the European Union EUROsociAL+ programme Further information
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Article 12: Equal recognition before the law
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Eleventh session 31 March–11 April 2014 General comment No. 1 (2014) Article 12: Equal recognition before the law View or download the article
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United Nations: Human Rights Council Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Council Thirty-fourth session 27 February-24 March 2017 Mental health and human rights Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights View or download the article
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Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health View or download the article
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Guidelines on article 14 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Guidelines on article 14 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities The right to liberty and security of persons with disabilities View or download the article
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Article 19: Living independently and being included in the community
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Draft General Comment No. 5 (2017) Article 19: Living independently and being included in the community View or download article
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Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities
Is mental capacity in the eye of the beholder? The law, at least in England and Wales, divides adults [1] into those who have the mental capacity to make decisions and those who do not. This distinction is crucial, and underpins health and social care practice, not least as it answers the questions: (1) can
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Fluctuating capacity and advance decision-making in Bipolar Affective Disorder — Self-binding directives and self-determination
For people with Bipolar Affective Disorder, a self-binding (advance) directive (SBD), by which they commit themselves to treatment during future episodes of mania, even if unwilling, can seem the most rational way to deal with an imperfect predicament. Knowing that mania will almost certainly cause enormous damage to themselves, their preferred solution may well be
