The social conditions of war and conflict shape the landscape of mental health for those affected by violence, persecution, and displacement. The episode, hosted by Centre Research Assistant Milena Wuerth, considers how systems of funding and hierarchies of expertise shape how mental health is defined in humanitarian interventions. Our guests share personal, clinical, and academic insights that reveal the many layers within dominant concepts of ‘trauma’. Finally, they suggest ways to make research more equitable, sustainable and representative of lived experience for those enduring or fleeing violent conflict.

Milena Wuerth joined King’s College London in January 2022 as a Research Assistant on the Together to Transform: A mutual learning platform to develop a social paradigm for global mental health. Milena holds a BA in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics and is currently pursuing a MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Onwuzurike Ogan is a Master’s student at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and works as a consultant psychiatrist for the Nigerian Ministry of Defence.

Thurayya Zreik is a qualitative mental health researcher in mental health and has worked as a consultant for NGOs including the ICRC and War Child Holland and for Lebanon’s National Mental Health Program.

Doerte Bemme is a lecturer in Society and Mental Health at King’s College London, and Tessa Roberts is a post-doctoral research fellow for the Centre for Society and Mental Health at King’s College London. They are joint Principal investigators of the Together to Transform project, a mutual learning platform to develop a social paradigm for global mental health.

To learn more about the Together to Transform, please visit our website: www.together2transform.org 

For more information about the GOAL project and similar research, visit the website of LSHTM’s Centre for Global Chronic Conditions: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres/centre-global-chronic-conditions 
Follow the Centre on Twitter @LSHTM_CGCC

Read more about how to implement co-production principles in academic research, authored by Thurayya’s colleauges at LSHTM: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354161201_Research_as_usual_in_humanitarian_settings_Equalising_power_in_academic-NGO_research_partnerships_through_co-production

Episode 11: Mental health in conflict settings

In 2014 the UN Convention on the Rights of Person’s with Disabilities (UNCRPD) recommended that policymakers and psychiatrists should “review the laws allowing for guardianship and trusteeship, and take action to develop laws and policies to replace regimes of substitute decision-making by supported decision-making, which respects the person’s autonomy, will and preferences”. These stipulations mean the disbandment of involuntary and assisted care, which are two forms of care that are conventionally used to treat people with lost mental capacity. Involuntary care specifically refers to when someone is treated without their consent, towards the restoration of their autonomy and in the interest of their and others safety . The UNCRPD's stipulations, on the other hand, mean a shift in focus to provision that ensures relational and environmental supports for people with psychosocial conditions who are in crisis, instead of treatment against the person's will.

The sentiments of GC1 have been met with caution and sometimes contention, and remain important to policy in UN signatories.

To explore some of the complexities of this debate, Alex Freeman interviews Charlene Sunkel, and Prof. George Szmukler - both experts in the field and human rights activists with different experiences and insightful perspectives towards involuntary care and psychiatric provision.

For more information about the Global Mental Health Peer Network, visit: https://www.gmhpn.org/

You can download the transcript for this episode here:
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/csmh/assets/oss-transcripts/oss-transcript-episode-15.pdf

Episode 15: The UNCRPD General Comment 1 - an end for involuntary psychiatric care?

In this episode, our host Lavinia Black speaks to Geraldine about the challenges of recovery during lockdown. Geraldine has been in recovery for 14 years and has used the skills and networks she developed through Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to get through the pandemic. With face-to-face meetings on hold across the UK, the two reflect on the important role that AA played in their journey to recovery, and how others are learning to adapt in the lead up to Christmas. Episode 4 was hosted by Lavinia Black, Expert by Experience and co-host of Our Sick Society.

Episode 4: Recovery and Lockdown

A podcast exploring how social changes affect mental health 🧠 Developed and presented by King's College London researchers & Experts by Experience. Funded by ESRC Impact Acceleration Account.

Episode 15: The UNCRPD General Comment 1 - an end for involuntary psychiatric care?

Our Sick Society

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