Participatory research in mental health and migration
Migration and mental health research can be an unequal process… Participatory research can challenge the power inequalities associated with mental health research…. more
Author: Amy Wells
Posts by Amy Wells
Transitioning out of Psychiatry
I want to see better solidarity between trans and Mad movements. I want the critique of psychiatry to support trans people’s needs, and I want trans people to learn from what they share with other psychiatric survivors and service-users…. more
Call for reviewers of mental health research papers
We’re looking for people with lived experience of mental ill-health, distress and trauma to summarise and respond to recently published mental health research … more
Who gets believed: abuse in mental health services
In the past couple of months, we have seen exposures of a culture of abuse in mental health services… People on the receiving end of this abuse have spoken out about it for decades. Claims that the investigations are “shocking” are insulting. … more
Understanding the identity of lived experience researchers and providers
The review found themes related to identity development, through the acronym of the EMERGES framework, a novel finding of the review. Themes of Empowerment, Motivation, Empathy of the self and others, Recovery model and medical model, Growth and Transformation, Exclusion and Survivor roots were found…… more
State violence and distress: the false separation between migrant justice and mental health
The immigration system is violent by design and attacks the minds, bodies, spirits of migrants, particularly those forcibly displaced and seeking safety…. more
Beyond Serotonin, I’ll see you there
People’s knowledge about their own medication experiences have been devalued, but so has our knowledge that there is so much we need from the people who conduct this research and write these prescriptions…. more
Book Review – The Colour of Madness: Mental Health and Race in Technicolour
“Whether this book lands in the hands of practitioners or public library users, this thought-provoking volume might plant a wilful seed of dissent or create a thirst for transformation.”… more
Back to Ends: Racialised Men & Safeguarding
The statistics for racialised communities and the damage that’s enacted due to improper safeguarding and care are quite telling… NHS figures from 2020 revealed that Black communities in England were four times more likely to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act… more
Reimagining Safety Beyond Safeguarding
“When stuff gets really serious” is exactly the moment that liberatory and emancipatory practices are most needed, especially in relation to suicidality. Most safeguarding models operate in the opposite direction…. more
Barriers to Mental Health Support for People of Colour and Migrants
The common refrain “mental health does not discriminate” might be intended to remind us that anyone can experience mental distress, but it doesn’t do justice to the fact that mental distress is political…. more
Lived experience work: anti-racism & mental health (podcast)
Kadra Abdinasir and António Ferreira talk to Amy Wells from NSUN about lived experience work at the intersections of anti-racism… more