Faculty Members
People who have agreed to join the faculty to date:
Paul Baker
Paul Baker
Country: UK/Spain
Background: Community development worker, co-founder Hearing Voices Network England. Paul Baker is a community development and group worker. He has a Post-graduate Diploma in Community Education, specialising in working with young people and people with mental health problems. Paul has worked in the health care and education sectors for the last 30 years. He had the responsibility for developing innovative mental health care services in the community. These include services run by the people who use them, self-advocacy services, supported housing services, social firms and enterprises as well as the development of forums for people to enable them to have a direct input in the development and running of services. For fifteen years Paul was the chairperson of a large housing association for homeless people in Manchester.
Paul was one of the founding members of the Hearing Voices Network in England and is currently the coordinator of INTERVOICE, the influential coordinating body for the international hearing voices movement. He also specialises in assisting organisations in harnessing and developing online communities to complement and support their work. Most recently Paul has worked with the Mental Health Foundation, Working to Recovery, Radish Online Ltd, the Scottish Hearing Voices Network.
He has a special interest in working with groups of people to find ways of help themselves overcome difficulties and problems. He also has a strong commitment to forging international partnerships in the development of progressive and effective mental health services.
Paul has published books and written chapters and articles for many publications on mental health issues. He provides consultancy services, lectures and trains on empowerment and recovery issues and the relationships these have to effective mental health service delivery.
Topics: Hearing voices e.g. setting up and running hearing voices groups; community development and mental health
Renzo Bonn
Country: Italy
Background: Consultant psychiatrist
Renzo Bonn is a psychiatrist. In the University years he was particularly involved in phenomenological approach in mental health, specially related with Basaglia’first experiences. He worked for a long period in Trieste Mental Health Services (1982 – 1999), in the last years as Director of a 24 hours Mental Health Centre. During this period he worked often in services in critical situation because of relevant change in their organization. From year 2000 in the Udine Mental Health Services, as Director of a 24 hours M.H.C. He had a 15 years’ experience in the Juvenile Court in Trieste as expert judge. He had many experiences during the war in former Yugoslavia: in 1993 for six months he was project manager for an humanitarian project in the Bosnian area of Brcko (targeted on mental health of vulnerable groups); in 1994 started a collaboration with WHO as MH consultant.; from 1994 to 2000 he was involved in many short missions (training and needs assessment) in different areas (Mostar, Vukovar, Kotor,Beograd, Kosovo and Albania) an in 1998 for one year was project manager for a WHO project targeted in the implementation of 9 community Based Mental Health Services in BiH (Federation and Republika Srpska); as WHO consultant in the period 2001 – 2008 he was involved in several short missions in OPT (Jerusalem, Gaza, Hebron, Bethlehem, Tulkarem, Ramallah) for needs assessment and (mainly) for training of MH workers. From year 2003 he is lecturer of Social Psychiatry in the Specialization School for Psychiatrist in the Medicine Faculty in Udine.
In this last years, with the medical responsible of the Police in Udine, he developed an experience targeted in managing stress and suicide problems in policemen.
Topics: He is particularly interested in team working and in team rebuilding for new operational contexts
Pat Bracken
Country: Ireland
Background: Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director of Mental Health Services in West Cork, Ireland. Professor of Philosophy, Diversity & Mental Health at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK.
Topics: Interests include collaborating with user/survivors, developing critical thinking in psychiatry and working with asylum seekers and refugees
Michaela Burt
Country: UK
Background: RMN Nurse background, Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust, trainer, consultant
Topics: Forensic services
Michaela.Burt@cpt.cornwall.nhs.uk
Jim Campbell
Country: UK
Background: Expert by experience, trainer, researcher, consultant. Jim Campbell, RMN, MA, Dip (Training & Dev) is a mental health trainer, researcher and practitioner. He has over 15 years experience in health and social care within mental health nursing and support worker roles in the NHS, Social Work and Voluntary sectors.
In more recent years he has specialised in mental health recovery, working in research, education and practice both nationally and internationally. He enjoys writing and has publications in mental health magazines, journals, books and websites.
Jim has been working independently since 2007, working with various organisations including Working to Recovery, Scottish Recovery Network, NHS Lothian and NHS Education for Scotland. He continues to be employed as a mental health nurse, grounding all his work within practice.
Jim was awarded the prestigious Florence Nightingale Foundation scholarship in 2005, undertaking a study tour of Australia and New Zealand, taking of scoping look at recovery orientated projects and services.
He has a long standing interest in developing alternative understandings, systems and tools for helping people who experience problems in life. His passion and enthusiasm lies in recovery, given people hope that change can and will happen.
Topics: Recovery, mental well-being, sexual abuse
Sudipto Chatterjee
Country: India/Australia
Background: Dr. Sudipto Chatterjee is a psychiatrist who is trained in National Institute of Mental Heath and Neuroscience in Bangalore. Since then he has worked in diverse settings in very low resource settings in India and within public mental health services in high resource settings. His interest is the development, evaluation and scaling up of locally feasible, acceptable and effective services for people with mental disorders, especially for those with severe mental disorders in low resource contexts. In this context, he is currently involved with co-ordinating the COPSI study.
Topics: Development, evaluation and scaling up of locally feasible, acceptable and effective services for people with mental disorders, especially for those with severe mental disorders in low resource contexts.
Oryx Cohen, M.P.A
Country: USA
Background: Director, Technical Assistance Center, National Empowerment Center. In addition to being a participant, Oryx is Director of the MindFreedom Oral History project. He co-founded the Freedom Center in Northampton, the Pioneer Valley’s only support/activist group run by and for people labeled “mentally ill” (see www.freedom-center.org). At his “day job,” he works to support consumer-run businesses, connecting people with meaningful work opportunities.
Topics: Peer support groups, employment
Ron Coleman
Country: UK
Background: Expert by experience, consultant, trainer. Ron Coleman is a Mental Health Trainer and Consultant specialising in Recovery and Psychosis. Following his role as national co-ordinator of the ‘Hearing Voices Network’ he used his experiences of recovery to design Workbooks and Training packages, to enable voice hearers to gain ascendancy over the negative aspects of the voice hearing experience. Ron’s own route to recovery after spending 13 years in and out of the psychiatric system has given him many insights into the numerous difficult issues facing today’s mental health services. He is now back in his homeland of Scotland after 20 years of self imposed exile. Ron is the author of ‘Recovery – An Alien Concept?’ and co –authored ‘Working With Voices’ and ‘Working To Recovery’. Ron has published several books including the above and also ‘Politics of the Madhouse’.
Topics: Recovery, Voices, Change management, sexual abuse.
Phillip Confue
Country: UK
Background: Chief Operating Officer and Nurse Executive, Cornwall Partnership NHS
Topics: Recovery re. mental health inpatient units, community services, day services and supported housing.
Phillip.Confue@cft.cornwall.nhs.uk
Dirk Corstens
Country: Netherlands,
Background: Psychiatrist, Chair of INTERVOICE
Topics: Voice dialogue, recovery practice. Dirk has been a social psychiatrist and psychotherapist since 1992. He is educated in cognitive, psychodynamic and systems therapy, Transactional Analysis and Voice Dialogue work. Since 1992, Dirk has been Collaborator in the Hearing Voices Project of the University of Maastricht, with Prof. Marius Romme and Dr Sandra Escher and is closely involved in working with voice hearers. Dirk developed the recovery programme, ‘Working with Voices’, and is currently preparing research on this subject.
Yann Derobert
Country: France
Background: Psychologist
Topics: Hearing voices, recovery practice
Jacqui Dillon
Country: UK
Background: Expert by experience, consultant, trainer, Chair of Hearing voices network England, Asylum Associates. Jacqui is the Chair of the National Hearing Voices Network, England, a user led charity which works to promote acceptance and understanding of the experiences of hearing voices, seeing visions, tactile sensations and other sensory experiences. She is an international speaker and trainer specialising in hearing voices, ‘psychosis’ and trauma. Jacqui is a member of the campaign co-ordinating committee for CASL – the Campaign to Abolish the Schizophrenia Label. She is a published writer
Topics: Hearing voices/trauma/recovery
Jørn Eriksen
Country: Denmark
Background: Psychiatric nurse manager, trainer, consultant, writer, publisher. Jørns entire working career has been centred on psychiatry in areas such as social psychiatry, district psychiatry, psychotherapy, alcoholism and adolescent psychiatry.
He’s originally trained as a nurse. Afterwards, he took a diploma in management and a professional diploma in Human Resource Development.
Currently, he is a director of the social psychiatric services in Lyngby – taarbæk municipality. Which include housing, support at home, acute service, self-help groups, supported work, social firms, and educations programs est. The services in Lyngby – taarbæk municipality is in the Danish context a pioneering bid for recovery-oriented work (www.slotsvaenget-ltk.dk).
Jørn is the initiator of the creation of the Danish Voice Hearers Network, and has been on the board since its inception.
He was also in the initiative group who founded the Danish Association for Psychosocial Rehabilitation.
Jørn was the first Dane to be invited to join International Mental Health Collaborating Network (Whole Life – Whole System) and he is now a member of the international advisory board. This network consists of people and organizations who have specific skills in relation to work on recovery processes.
Jørn has been President and Vice President of the Academic Society of Psychiatric Nurses for 8 years. For 7 years he was a columnist in the magazine nurse, and has regularly written articles for magazines and newspapers.
Jørn has for many years been a sought after speaker and an active community debater home and abroad in relation to the circumstances of mental health issues. In addition he works as a consultant for institutions wishing to work diligently with recovery processes.
Topics: Hearing voices, recovery, management change
Peter Everett
Country: UK
Background: Consultant psychiatrist
Topics: Voices Work in Long Stay Units (Inpatient settings)
Margaret Fleming
Country: Ireland
Background: Margaret Fleming RPN, FFNRCSI, MSc has worked in mental health services in Ireland for the past 31 years. She is a Fellow of the Faculty of Nursing, Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland and holds an MSc in Health and Social Services Management from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. At present she is working as Clinical Co-ordinator with Monaghan Community Mental Health Team, which is a multidisciplinary team providing mental health services to a rural population in County Monaghan. Margaret and her team work in close collaboration with Primary Care Services and voluntary and statutory agencies. She has been at the forefront of designing, planning and restructuring this new service model now known both nationally and internationally as The Monaghan Model. She has been actively involved in establishing a resource centre, which is service user driven and also in the development of a mental health promotion programme for young adults. This programme has been accredited by Mental Health Europe as best practice in mental health promotion for young adults. Margaret is the Irish project leader with the “Whole Life Project” which is a joint project between the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Network. She is also currently working as a consultant with the World Health Organisation involved in the restructuring of mental health services in Albania.
Topics: Whole-life recovery
Tony Gardner
Country: UK
Background: Chief Executive, Cornwall Partnership Trust
Topics: Whole life recovery service development
Heath Hodge
Country: USA
Background: Peer support
Topics: Hearing Voices
John Jenkins
Country: UK
Background: Civil Servant Ministry of Health UK (retired), Consultant to NIMHE (UK) and WHO Director. Development of Community Mental Health Services and Networking around the world. Implementation of Community Mental Health Services. Development of National Policies and their implementation in the Balkans: Kosova, Albania, Macedonia, etc. Advise and Consultancy to various Mental Health Providers in many countries. Implementation of the National Mental Health Policy and Plans. Public Policy and Organisational Development.
Topics: Introducing and cementing Whole Life Recovery practice within services, practice and policy.
john.jenkins@icra-wholelife.org
Eleanor Longden
Country: UK
Background: Psychologist, expert by experience. Eleanor Longden is psychologist, currently undertaking a PhD, she works with the Bradford Early Intervention in Psychosis Team. As a voice hearer and past user of psychiatric services, she has a strong interest in promoting tolerance, awareness and positive explanations for mental health issues, and for the last four years has worked in both a clinical and academic capacity to endorse creative, enabling approaches to experiences such as voice-hearing, unusual beliefs and self-injury.
Topics: Voices, Self Injury, Voice Dialogue
Lyn Mahboub
Country: Australia
Background: Expert by experience, psychologist, trainer, consultant. RFWA Training and Hearing Voices Network Australia Manager, BA (hons) Psychology/Communication & Cultural Studies .
Topics: Hearing voices, recovery
Marcello Macario
Country: Italy
Background: Consultant Psychiatrist, Head of the Community Mental Health Centre of Carcare (Sv). Coordinator of the “Sheltered Apartments” (10 patients) of Carcare and Cengio (Sv).
Marcello worked for the Italian National Research Council (2007) to coordinate the writing
of a research project on “Recovery” which involved the “Mario Negri” Institute of Milan, Dundee University, Stockholm University and the International Collaborating Network on Mental Health.
He was actively involved with leading roles in the regional social cooperative network (1980-2009): from 1980 to 1983 he was the president of the social cooperative “Il Faggio” which was working with mentally handicapped people in the community; from 2004 to 2009 I was the president of the social cooperative “Il Casello” in which 1/3 of workers are people with mental health problems.
Since 2004 he has been involved in the establishment of the Italian Hearing Voices Network.
Topics: Supported housing, recovery, hearing Voices,
Johnny Mackay
Country: Australia
Johnny has been involved in personal development, disability and mental illness work for almost a decade. He is a regularly published writer on topics of strengths-based philosophy and social justice and a speaker/trainer on these and related topics. He has lived experience combined with formal accrediations in disability, mental health and training and continued studies via University.
Topics: areras of knowledge and passion - main areas of training and sharing – are strengths based-practice, successful goal setting practice, core building in self-esteem, self-care and creative writing/journalling for expression and reflection.
Anne Markwick
Country: UK
Background: Director of Recovery, mental health manager
Topics: Whole life recovery
Roberto Mezzina
Background: Head of Service, Azienda Servizi Sanitari,Trieste. Roberto is Director of Mental Health Services in Trieste, Italy
Topics: Hearing voices
Philip Morgan
Country: UK
Background: Philip is a social scientist, performer and chair & Volunteer Project Coordinator of Tower Hamlets African & Caribbean Mental Health Organisation (THACMHO). THACMHO is a voluntary organisation based in Tower Hamlets in London’s East End. THACMHO is led by Users and ex-Users of mental health services, supported by a development worker and was formed in 1996. Its central aim is to promote the well-being of African and Caribbean users of mental health services living in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets – and to make the life of their communities a more fulfilling and rewarding experience, in addition to developing positive self-awareness and identity. They believe that the best treatment for our mental health is a strong, vibrant and caring community.
Topics: Developing positive self-awareness and identity, promoting well-being, community development
Robin Murray
Country: UK
Background: Has most recently been working in a lead role on direct payments for the National Social Inclusion Programme and the CSIP/DH “Increasing the Uptake of Direct Payments” programme.
Robin previously worked in a variety of roles for MACA/Together; these included the co-ordinator to the MACASURE user-controlled research project and line manager for work/employment, residential, community support and personal development services.
Way back in the mists of time Robin worked in a local authority “rehabilitation hostel” and prior to that worked in a large “psychiatric hospital”.
Robin is particularly interested in the values that lie behind the implementation of direct payments and the developing work around Individual Budgets (the promotion of equality and independent living for all people) and their relevance to Recovery as defined by people with mental health problems.
Topics: Recovery implementation and policy issues
Pino Pini
Country: Italy
Background: Consultant psychiatrist
Pino was trained in psychotherapy (Jungian analysis and systemic psychotherapy); He has been interested to the holistic approach to the patients balancing medical and psychological knowledge. In the decade between the 80s and the 90s he decided to make a political experience as counsellor in a city borough of Florence. This gave him the possibility to better know the social side of mental health and the general needs of people in the local community. In 1982 he spent 2 months in the USA to train in family therapy, in 1983 he spent one month in France to study the French MH services. In 1984 he began to establish relationships with mental health associations and mental health services in the UK.
He became a member of the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) in 1989 and was the founder and the first president of the Italian National Mental Health Association AISMe from 1993. He also served as a Board Member of ERC (European Regional Council) –WFMH from 1993 and Executive Member of ERC-WFMH (now Mental Heath Europe) since 1995.
He has organised many conferences and seminars on self-help in mental health and has published extensively on this topic as well as producing two books.
He has been co-ordinator of the European Project “mental health services evaluation in partnership with users” (Helios 2) and he has been partner of other European projects (DGV) on Advocacy and on Equal Opportunities. Since 2002 he has led an international group named Local Mental Health Systems with the aim to improve new mental health practices in the community based on approaches alternative to the therapeutic models. He has a close collaboration since the early 1980s with the Psychology Department of the Florence University.
Topics: Peer Support & Self help groups, community based approach, hearing voices
Mary O’ Hagan
Country: New Zealand
Background: Mary O’Hagan is a well known innovator, thinker and writer. Mary used mental health services in New Zealand for eight years as a young woman. Ever since, she has worked to make a difference to the way society and services respond to people with major mental distress.
Mary was:
- an initiator of the user/survivor movement in New Zealand
- the first chair of the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry
- an advisor to the United Nations and World Health Organization
- a Mental Health Commissioner for New Zealand.
Mary is:
- an international speaker, consultant and writer
- an international thought leader on service user perspectives
- used for her unique expertise in recovery, wellbeing and discrimination and peer support
- developing a major new peer-led project called PeerZone: shared learning for wellbeing
- working in the Netherlands, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Mary’s major work these days is helping providers develop peer support services and PeerZone see www.wellbeingrecovery.com.
Topics: peer support development, recovery based systems, wellbeing, and discrimination.
Dr. Susan Ruggeri
Country: UK
Background: Chartered Counselling Psychologist. Dr Susan Ruggeri is a Chartered Counselling Psychologist who is currently working for MHC in two Recovery focused hospitals in North Wales. Plas Coch Independent Hospital is a specialised dedicated female only service, registered to admit female patients, aged 19-60 years, with a primary diagnosis of enduring mental health problems such as borderline personality disorder and treatment-resistive mental illness. New Hall Independent Hospital is a 25 bed all male service that provides a rehabilitation and recovery model of care and treatment for 25 male patients, aged 18-65 years, who have functional mental health disorders and mild learning disabilities.
Dr Ruggeri worked in education for 25 years teaching a variety of subjects to students aged 11-18years providing academic and pastoral support. Through this she developed an interest in working with individuals to explore the constraints of the systems they are immersed in. She went on to train as a couples counsellor before undertaking research into working with people with a diagnosis of Aspergers syndrome. She co-facilitated an Asperger’s support group and wrote a thesis on Asperger’s syndrome and humour which has been submitted for publication.
Topics: Dr Ruggeri’s current interests lie in working with voices. She currently facilitates voices groups in both hospitals as well as providing individual one to one sessions. She has also presented workshops on working with voices at number of external MHC events.
Karen Taylor
Country: UK
Background: Psychiatric Nurse manager (RMN), consultant, trainer. Karen Taylor is an RMN with 16 years experience in the NHS in England with both older people and adults of working age. Karen has personal experience of designing, implementing and managing innovative community care services.
After leaving the NHS, Karen managed the company ‘Keepwell Ltd’ for 2 years, where she ran a psychosis resolution service based on recovery and co-authored the workbook, ‘Working to Recovery’.
Karen has also been involved in introducing Recovery Training into Australia, New Zealand, Palestine, Denmark and Italy as well as throughout the United Kingdom.
Based in Scotland, Karen is Director of ‘Working to Recovery Ltd, alongside Ron Coleman. Karen and Ron are passionate that recovery is for all, including workers, and together they travel the world, telling their story of recovery and spreading a message based on hope, engaging with mental health services, carers and service users and challenging them to review their roles and embrace recovery for all.
Topics: Recovery voices, change management, sexual abuse.
Alain Topor
Country: Sweden
Background: Researcher – psychologist. Alain Topor is a psychologist and assistant professor at the Department of Social Work, Stockholm University. He also works as head of the Department of Research and Development at Psychiatry South, Stockholm. His career has included work as a family therapist, supervisor and psychologist in both social work and psychiatry, as well as experience working as a journalist.
He was involved in the closure of Stockholm’s two mental hospitals and also contributed to the development of social alternatives to these institutions.
Most recently he has been conducting research into the recovery process of people with severe mental problems, the coping strategies of people hearing voices and the role of social conditions and relationships in mental health and recovery.
Topics: Resilience and recovery, hearing voices
Jan Woodward (RWR)
Country: UK
Background: Whole Life Programme Manager/Lead, Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Topics Whole-life recovery, policy, implementation and practice.
Janni.Woodward@hertspartsft.nhs.uk
Ron Unger
Country: USA
Background: Ron developed an interest in madness as a young man “I began seeing the world from perspectives very far from the mainstream. I was studying psychology at the time so I was very aware these experiences were considered “mad” but I was also aware of dissident views which said madness could be a good thing if worked through in the right way, so that’s what I believed I could do. I was able to keep a few friends during this period, and I got a lot of support from things I read, and I was lucky enough to never get pulled into the mental health system. My closest encounter with a mental health person was with a psychology teacher I liked to talk to who told me he had been asked to watch out for students who might be having a “psychotic break”: he told me I was one of two students he was watching, but he did not think he needed to push me into treatment. Anyway, the years of my life when I felt closely identified with those called “mad” or “schizophrenic” were very valuable to me in a spiritual and philosophical way, and formed a basis for the rest of my life.
Five out of eight of my younger siblings had more rocky journeys in their young adulthood, with one committing suicide, three hospitalized for varying lengths of time, and one put on disability for mental health reasons without a hospitalization. Their journeys were like mine, only for various reasons they ran into more problems, and less support and luck, as they went along. These siblings (the ones who survived) have experienced varying degrees of recovery.”
Ron became active in the group that became MindFreedom in the late 80′s, and then in the year 2000 became a mental health therapist so that heI could get involved bringing more alternatives into the field. He specializes in CBT for psychosis, I facilitate a group for people who hear voices and/or have paranoia, and coordinate a small peer support program at an agency where I work. He also gives professional presentations on psychological approaches for psychosis and on understanding the relationships between trauma and psychosis. Also, he writes a blog, http://recoveryfromschizophrenia.org/
Topics:
- Normalizing – seeing the problems of “madness” as being just more extreme versions of the problems of everyday life.
- Integrating CBT for psychosis into an overall recovery/whole life perspective
- Understanding the relationships between trauma and experiences seen as “psychotic” and using those understandings in working toward recovery
- What do creativity, spirituality, and madness share in common? How can an understanding of that common ground support recovery?
- Dissociation as a common factor in many problems including “psychosis” and how to moderate it.
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