15th Annual Critical Voices Conference 2023

‘CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON LEARNING FROM MAD KNOWLEDGE’

15 AND 16 NOVEMBER 2023

SCHOOL OF APPLIED SOCIAL STUDIES AND SCHOOL OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK, IRELAND

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE CRITICAL VOICES NETWORK IRELAND 

Mad knowledge has been historically invalidated by academic and professional disciplines. Despite the rhetoric of ‘social inclusion’ and ‘co-production’, service users/survivors/Mad people continue to be viewed as non-credible knowers in relation to their own experiences. This is a form of injustice that renders them powerless within the systems that are meant to support them. This year’s conference provides opportunities to consider Mad knowledge and the challenges involved in learning with and from Madness and distress.  This conference will consider:

• The diversity of Mad knowledge
• The processes that marginalise Mad knowledge
• Issues of credibility and representation
• What it means to learn from Mad knowledge
• The implications of this learning for education and practice systems
• How we create environments to honour, and nurture Mad knowledge

Keynote Speakers confirmed to date (in alphabetical order):

• Lisa Archibald, Co-Director/ Training Coordinator, Intentional Peer Support and Mad Studies Student, Scotland
• Sarah Carr, Independent Mental Health and Social Care Knowledge Consultant, Survivor Researcher and ex-Academic, and Tina Coldham, Mental Health User Consultant, Trainer & Researcher, England
• Eoin Gorman, Lecturer and Programme Director, Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University College Cork, Ireland
• Lykourgos Karatzaferis, Psychiatrist, co-founder of the Hearing Voices Network Athens, and another speaker to be confirmed, Greece
• Lydia Sapouna, Lecturer, School of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork, co-founder of the Critical Voices Network, Ireland

Call for abstracts (oral presentations/workshops) of 45 minutes’ duration related to the conference theme and outlining its aims and intentions. Please submit (in Word- 250 words max) by 18 September 2023. Please also submit a brief bio (in Word - 150 words max). Email abstract and bio to l.sapouna@ucc.ie. Inquiries to h.gijbels@ucc.ie or l.sapouna@ucc.ie.  

Registration details will be circulated in late September 2023.  

The Conference organisers are Lydia Sapouna, School of Applied Social Studies and Harry Gijbels (retired), School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork, Ireland.    

14th Annual Critical Voices Conference 2022

16th / 17th NOVEMBER 2022

‘Critical perspectives on the lived experience of distress and mental health services’  

SCHOOL OF APPLIED SOCIAL STUDIES AND SCHOOL OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK, IRELAND

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE CRITICAL VOICES NETWORK IRELAND

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

In person attendance: Email Harry Gijbels at h.gijbels@ucc.ie and make sure you give your name and indicate the day(s) you wish to attend (either Wednesday 16 November, Thursday 17 November, or both days). Booking will be confirmed by return email. Please bring the booking confirmation slip with you to the conference registration desk on the day(s) you are attending.

Registration for online attendance (Keynotes only): Here

Conference Programme Link 

CONFERENCE THEME

Lived experience of distress and mental health services is increasingly identified as significant in shaping better understandings and responses to human suffering. Lived experience informs research, activism, service development, and, to a certain extent, policy, and education. However, concerns are also expressed that lived experience is not recognised as expert knowledge. This year’s conference provides opportunities to honour the contributions of lived experience to changing knowledge, attitudes, and practices in mental health and to address some of the challenges in recognising the value of lived experience. This conference will consider:

• what do we understand by lived experience?
• what do we know about the contribution of lived experience in mental health matters?
• the diversity of lived experience
• issues of credibility and representation
• whose interests are served by and through lived experience?
• how do we create environments to honour, and nurture lived experience?

CONFIRMED KEYNOTE SPEAKERS (in alphabetical order)

Liz Brosnan, Survivor, Researcher and Activist, past Academia and Health Service Executive, Ireland; Martha Griffin, Expert by Experience, Lecturer in Mental Health, Dublin City University, Ireland; Raza Griffiths, Survivor Educator, England; Konstantina (Dina) Poursanidou, PhD, Service User Researcher, Survivor Researcher Network C.I.C and University of Central Lancashire, UK; Rai Waddingham, Survivor, Trainer, Researcher & Practitioner, UK

Conference details regularly updated on https://cvni.ie/2022-2/

The Conference organisers are Lydia Sapouna, School of Applied Social Studies and Harry Gijbels (retired), Catherine McAuley School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork, Ireland.    

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