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Welcome to the first panel discussion of #SocialPowerMH @CRASSHlive
The topic is
Social Inequalities & JusticeYou can view the livestream of the session here: http://YouTube.com/CRASSHCambridge
I’m @JoannahDewDrop and I’ll be livetweeting today’s session 
Feel free to tweet me if you have any questions!
#SocialPowerMH
Feel free to tweet me if you have any questions!
#SocialPowerMH
Our first speaker is @rianna_walcott from @KingsCollegeLon
The title is:
On Mental Health Support Access and Treatment Outcomes for Black Patients
#SocialPowerMH
The title is:
On Mental Health Support Access and Treatment Outcomes for Black Patients
#SocialPowerMH
BAME groups are less likely to access, complete, improve during and achieve recovery in treatment in IAPT.
#SocialPowerMH
#SocialPowerMH
Rianna discusses experiences of fatphobia and physical presentation of Black women (e.g. acrylic having nails done) which led to stigmatised judgements from GPs on seeking help. Additionally, communities' bias against medication served as a barrier to healthcare.
#SocialPowerMH
#SocialPowerMH
Rianna has conducted research asking Black people about attitudes to healthcare and medication.
. @rianna_walcott:
How might ease of access to mental (or physical) health care vary based on identity, e.g. race, gender, age, physical ability
#SocialPowerMH
. @rianna_walcott:
How might ease of access to mental (or physical) health care vary based on identity, e.g. race, gender, age, physical ability #SocialPowerMH
@rianna_walcott emphasises the importance of integrating lived experience into our advocacy work and research.
We couldn’t agree more strongly!
This is one of the main motivations for #SocialPowerMH as a conference.
We couldn’t agree more strongly!
This is one of the main motivations for #SocialPowerMH as a conference.
Our second speaker on Social Inequalities & Justice is @BeresfordPeter from @uniofeastanglia @Solnetwork1
The title is:
Challenging the unstoppable psychiatrisation of politics and the politics of psychiatry
[Content may be distressing]
#SocialPowerMH
Social Inequalities & Justice is @BeresfordPeter from @uniofeastanglia @Solnetwork1The title is:
Challenging the unstoppable psychiatrisation of politics and the politics of psychiatry
[Content may be distressing]
#SocialPowerMH
@BeresfordPeter points out that the psych system is increasingly in informal alliance with right-wing politics, blaming the individual for the problems they face.
#SocialPowerMH
#SocialPowerMH
We agree! This is why we emphasise the role of social power here at #SocialPowerMH
Mental health can never be separated from its social context.
There is a huge amount of evidence demonstrating the relationships between power, social inequality and distress!
Mental health can never be separated from its social context.
There is a huge amount of evidence demonstrating the relationships between power, social inequality and distress!
@BeresfordPeter: Meanwhile such neoliberal politics are increasingly turning to psych techniques to retain power and control
#SocialPowerMH
#SocialPowerMH
@BeresfordPeter: We must challenge the growing psychiatrisation of politics and its destructive effects by highlighting the rising gap between personal and formal politics and working to reduce it.
#SocialPowerMH
#SocialPowerMH
Our third speaker on Social Inequalities & Justice is @HSpandler from @UCLan @AsylumMagUK
The title is: Restorative Justice: A Radical Approach to Mental Health Reform?
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Social Inequalities & Justice is @HSpandler from @UCLan @AsylumMagUKThe title is: Restorative Justice: A Radical Approach to Mental Health Reform?
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Helen talks of iatrogenic harm, epistemic injustice - people's experience and knowledge being discredited. She asks:
How can we reach justice for these people How can we use it to form a better MH system
Only when it can be articulated, acknowledged and learnt from.
How can we reach justice for these people How can we use it to form a better MH systemOnly when it can be articulated, acknowledged and learnt from.
Helen: Restorative justice usually used in prisons. It would have to be different to fit MH system - it would need agreement eg. such as to who is the victim and the perpetrator.
Activists focus mainly on either abuse/control or neglect by/lack of services.
#SocialPowerMH
Activists focus mainly on either abuse/control or neglect by/lack of services.
#SocialPowerMH
Helen: sees a split of thirds - one has been helped, one has been harmed, one has neither. We must hear all experiences of Psychiatry, they are all truths (eg. ECT harms/helps, detention harms/helps). It is a problem to impose ideas from one binary perspective.
#SocialPowerMH
#SocialPowerMH
Helen: Restorative justice approach would seek to enable those who'd been harmed or helped to be fully heard and to hear other perspectives. Must be voluntary, without interruption - in a safe space, not be framed in a psychiatric way, no pre-determined outcomes.
#SocialPowerMH
#SocialPowerMH
Helen has written about truth and reconciliation in mental health services (with Mick McKeown): https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/MHRJ-01-2017-0011/full/html
An example of truth and reconciliation in action: https://www.madinamerica.com/2016/05/speaking_truths_-sharing_healing/
#SocialPowerMH
#SocialPowerMH
A service user perspective on restorative approaches: https://seriousmentalhealth.com/2021/03/26/papercuts-restorative-approaches-and-cumulative-harm-in-mental-health-care/ 
Our final speaker on Social Inequalities & Justice is Dorothy Gould
The title is: We Want Power Too: Perspectives from Service Users and Survivors from LGBTQ+ Communities
#SocialPowerMH
Social Inequalities & Justice is Dorothy GouldThe title is: We Want Power Too: Perspectives from Service Users and Survivors from LGBTQ+ Communities
#SocialPowerMH
Dorothy: Discrimination is deeply embedded in the structures of society. During the pandemic there has been a concerning lack of focus on specific issues for LGBTQ+ communities. Attitudes in society, hate crimes are also increasing.
#SocialPowerMH
#SocialPowerMH
Dorothy: People's stories of their lived experiences exemplify how troubling it has been to be on the receiving end of discrimination, with intersections of race and transgender identity adding harm.
#SocialPowerMH
#SocialPowerMH
Dorothy: The reform of the Mental Health Act 1983 of which the White Paper which was published in Jan (DHSC) ignored input, concerns and considerations of LGBTQ+ people.
The same lack of focus on LGBTQ+ issues occurs in MH research. Though a few small studies have done well.
The same lack of focus on LGBTQ+ issues occurs in MH research. Though a few small studies have done well.
Dorothy: One research piece - Keeping Control study, a co-productive, user-led, study of abuse, prevention and detection. It looked at associations between LGBT, mental health and hate crimes, not the 3 as separate issues as the government often deals with them.
#SocialPowerMH
#SocialPowerMH
Dorothy: "Being labelled mentally ill often leads to political, social and economic disadvantages that are often compounded by intersectional discrimination."
#SocialPowerMH
#SocialPowerMH
And that concludes the third session of the conference! Thank you much to our four speakers.
We’ll be posting the video of today’s session at the bottom of this thread shortly.
If you have any questions, tweet us using the hashtag #SocialPowerMH
