2017 Conference Webcasts
You can view webcasts from the keynote presentations given at the 2017 conference. These links below will bring you to the UCC School Of Nursing and Midwifery Panopto pages.
15th November
11.00-12.00 Jay Watts: An Environmental Model of Mental Distress.
For more information on this, and previous conferences please visit http://www.ucc.ie/en/nursingmidwifery/conferences/
- Details
‘CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON AND BEYOND “CHANGE” IN MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES’
15 AND 16 NOVEMBER 2017
BROOKFIELD HEALTH SCIENCES COMPLEX
A Two-Day Conference organised by the School of Applied Social Studies and the Catherine McAuley School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork, in association with the Critical Voices Network Ireland
REGISTRATION
To book a place, email Harry Gijbels at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Give your name, and indicate the day(s) you wish to attend (either Wednesday 15 November, Thursday 16 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.
The conference aims to explore and debate critical perspectives on and beyond:
-What do we understand by ‘better’ mental health services?
-Do we need mental health services at all? If so, what should they look like? If not, what other ways are there?
-The politics of changing mental health services
Keynote Speakers (in alphabetical order):
Oor Mad History, a group of people with lived experience/mad identified, mad positive academics and mental health advocacy workers from Edinburgh, Scotland.
Jim van Os, Professor of Psychiatry at Utrecht Medical Centre (UMC), The Netherlands, interested and active in mental health care reform.
Diana Rose, mental health service user and Professor of User-Led Research at King’s College London.
Jolijn Santegoeds, a user/survivor of psychiatry, and founder of a protest group in the Netherlands called "Rage against Isolation!"
Iseult Twamley, Senior Clinical Psychologist and Open Dialogue Clinical Lead for Cork/Kerry, where she has been involved with the Irish Open Dialogue project.
Jay Watts is a consultant clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and activist, who has written widely about neoliberalism and the politics around mental health.
Concurrent Sessions: the conference also includes just under 50 workshops and oral presentations, related to the conference theme.
Full Conference programme can be found here
BACKGROUND
This conference, now in its 9th year, is unique as it is free for all participants and it involves people from diverse backgrounds (self-experience, survivors, professionals, academics, carers) presenting, discussing and debating critical and creative perspectives on and beyond the dominant bio-medical approach. The 2010 conference saw the launch of the Critical Voices Network Ireland (CVNI), a network of people interested in considering and developing responses to human distress, which are creative, enabling, respectful and firmly grounded in human rights.
HELPFUL INFORMATION
The following link takes you to a campus map (for guidance to Brookfield) and the visitors' parking facilities: https://www.ucc.ie/en/visitors/maps/
Two very close and reasonably priced car parking places (± €5 for the day) outside UCC are:
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the car park next to the Kingsley Hotel (not the hotel’s car park) on the Carrigrohane Road. It is about a 15 min walk from there to Brookfield, walking east towards the Western Gate Building (WGB) on the Western Road, and from there over the footbridge at the back of WGB to Brookfield.
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the carpark on the grounds of the Sacred Heart Church, located on the corner of Western Road opposite Mardyke Walk (across the road from the AIB bank). From there cross road towards the Western Gateway Building and from there over the footbridge at the back of WGB to Brookfield.
Those of you who may require accommodation, see www.uccconferencing.ie/walking-distance/
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.
- Details
2016 Conference Webcasts
You can view webcasts from the keynote presentations given at the 2016 conference. These links below will bring you to the UCC School Of Nursing and Midwifery Panopto pages.
Presented Wednesday 9 November 2016 at 09:45
A Story about John - Jonathan Gadsby
Presented Wednesday 9 November 2016 at 12.15
Beyond the Biomedical Model: Dangers and Opportunities - Lucy Johnstone
Presented Wednesday 9 November 2016 at 14.15
Presented Thursday 10 November 2016 at 09.45
Recovery and Crisis in Post Welfare Societies. - Brigit McWade
Presented Thursday 10 November 2016 at 10.30
For more information on this, and previous conferences please visit http://www.ucc.ie/en/nursingmidwifery/conferences/
- Details
Information for Delegates
Programme Schedule
Please see the download section for the program schedule.
Attendance
The conference is now almost fully booked with 500+ delegates each day. If you are no longer able to attend, or if you are changing your registration days, please let us know immediately by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so we can offer your place to someone else. Please do not re-confirm your registration if you are attending.
Registration
Please bring your email booking confirmation slip to the registration desk on the morning of your attendance. If you are attending both days, you only need to register on Wednesday.
Registration starts at 8.00 am on Wednesday, with the conference starting at 9.30 am sharp.
For those who are attending on Thursday only, registration starts at 8.30 am with the conference starting at 9.30 am sharp.
WiFi Availability
If you are a university student or work at a university, you should be able to pick up eduroam on your WiFi setting (access by using the username and password assigned by your home institution). For those who do not that availability, a guest WiFi has been set (this will work during the two conference days only):
Username: mh9nov16
Password: 6DnnHW3G
Getting to Brookfield
Check http://www.ucc.ie/en/visitors/getting-here/ See attached map. Brookfield Health Sciences Complex map reference is No13 Grid C7.
Live streaming of keynote presentations
To accommodate all the registered delegates, the keynote presentations will be streamed from the main lecture theatre to other rooms in Brookfield Health Sciences Complex (BHSC). Seating operates on a ‘first come first serve’ basis, so if the main lecture theatre, where the key note is held, is full you will be directed to the other rooms.
Concurrent presentations/workshops
There are 26 concurrent presentations/workshops scheduled across the two days. Venue name, room number e.g. BHSC G04 are followed by a figure e.g. (120). The latter refers to the maximum number of people the workshop can accommodate. There is no pre-registration for the workshops, so if a workshop is full, please go to another one. Most concurrent presentations/workshops are held in BHSC, with two concurrent presentations/workshops scheduled for WGB (Western Gateway Building), a 2-minute walk across the footbridge between BHSC and WGB (building No81 Grid C6 on the map).
Lunch Venues
As the conference takes place during the academic year, the local restaurants, Brookfield Restaurant and WGB restaurant will be extremely busy. Please use other nearby facilities (see Book of Abstracts for details) or bring a packed lunch.
Book of Abstracts
The Book of Abstracts has been emailed to you. The programme schedule and the Book of Abstracts will also be available on www.cvni.ie http://www.ucc.ie/en/nursingmidwifery/news/ and on www.ucc.ie/en/appsoc in advance of the conference. Due to the conference’s limited budget (see below) we would ask you to bring a printed copy of the programme schedule and the Book of Abstracts with you to the conference. There will only be a limited number of printed copies of the conference programme and the Book of Abstracts at the registration desk.
Donations
As you may know, one of the unique features of this annual conference is that it is a free event, supported by a very small budget. Since 2013, following delegates’ enquiries about making donations, there has been a donation box at the registration desk. Please feel free to contribute if you wish (either cash or cheque made payable to CVNI to be lodged into the CVNI conference account). We do not accept donations which compromise the ethos and values of the conference.
Parking
Please see attached visitor parking PDF. Parking is difficult. The best and cheapest place to park is next to the Kingsley Hotel on the Carrigrohane Road. From there it is a 10 minute walk to Brookfield via the footbridge at the back of the Western Gate Way Building No81 Grid C6 on the map.
Accommodation
Check http://www.uccconferencing.ie/walking-distance/ Accommodation around Western Road is within 15 minute walk of Brookfield.
If you have any queries, please contact either Lydia Sapouna at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 021 4903495, or Harry Gijbels at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 021 4901551.
We look forward to seeing you at the conference.
- Details
Dublin & Cork Masterclass
Kathryn Church & Danielle Landry,
Both from the School of Disability Studies at Ryerson University, Canada, and two of the main contributors at the conference, are also facilitating master classes.
UCC Cork 11th November
Please find masterclass presentation HERE
Further readings can be found HERE and HERE
Online Resources are found HERE, HERE and HERE
- Details
8th ANNUAL CONFERENCE 9 AND 10 NOVEMBER 2016 ‘CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON AND BEYOND ACTIVISM AND ACTS OF RESISTANCE…’
Programme Overview now Available for the 8th Critical Perspectives’ Conference in University College Cork on 9 and 10 November
Click HERE for more details
This year’s theme is CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON AND BEYOND ACTIVISM AND ACTS OF RESISTANCE…’ We have over 300 people registered so far. As always, we have a very exciting line up of key note speakers with Kathryn Church, Director and Associate Professor in the School of Disability Studies at Ryerson University in Toronto; Jonathan Gadsby, a mental health nurse and a founder member of the Critical Mental Health Nurses’ Network; Lucy Johnstone, consultant clinical psychologist, author and trainer, Mick McKeownis a mental health nurse, researcher and trade union activist working to build alliances with survivor groups and Brigit McWade, sociologist researching and teaching aspects of mental health. New this year is a panel discussion with Cork activists Rory Doody, Recovery Advocate; Joan Hamilton, Sli Eile; Mary Maddock,MindFreedomIreland; Pat Bracken, freelance critical psychiatrist. In addition, there will be the usual concurrent workshops across the two days.
To book a place email Harry Gijbels This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and give your name, and indicate the day(s) you wish to attend (either Wednesday 9 November, Thursday 10 November, or both days). Booking will be confirmed by return email. Registration: Please bring the booking confirmation slip with you to the conference registration desk on the day(s) you are attending.
Further details can be found here. Full programme up within next few weeks.
Look forward seeing you in Cork.
Lydia Sapouna and Harry Gijbels
- Details
2015 Conference Webcasts
You can view webcasts from the keynote presentations given at the 2015 conference. These links below will bring you to the UCC School Of Nursing Panopto pages.
The Woes of Recovery - David Pilgrim
Presented Wednesday 11th November 2015 at 09:45
My Body Remembers; I Refused; From Being a Disorder to Dealing With Life
- Wilma Boevink
Presented Wednesday 11th November 2015 at 12:00
Rip it up and Start Again? - Malcolm Garland
Presented Wednesday 11th November 2015 at 13:45
Talking Therapies: The Inevitability of Ambivalence - Dina Poursanidou
Presented Thursday 12th November 2015 at 09:45
Keynote - Rory Doody [Click on "UCC Conference" under contents pane]
Presented Thursday 12th November 2015 at 10:45.
I used to be a CBT enthusiast -Garry Sidley
Presented Thursday 12th November 2015 at 14:00
For more information on this, and previous conferences please visit http://www.ucc.ie/en/nursingmidwifery/conferences/
- Details
Keynote Presentations with Live Stream Links
Keynote Live Stream Links:
Keynote presentations will take place in room BHSC G01.
They will also be streamed on the day, via the following links provided by the UCC School of Nursing. You can also watch the streamed presentations in viewing rooms at the college. See Conference Overview (click here) for details of where.
please note time changes. Wilma Boevink will be speaking 11 November, and Dina Poursanidou on the 12th November
Wednesday 11 November 2015:
| 09:45 | David Pilgrim | An Honorary Professor of Health & Social Policy at the University of Liverpool and Visiting Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Southampton. His career has been divided between working as a policy researcher and as a clinical psychologist in the British NHS. |
| Live Stream Link | ||
| 12:00 | Wilma Boevink | An experiential expert, social scientist at the Trimbos-Institute, the Netherlands. Former Professor of Recovery and founder of Tree (towards Recovery, Empowerment and Experiential Expertise). |
| Live Stream Link | ||
| 13:45 | Malcolm Garland | A consultant psychiatrist in Dublin. His team tries to incorporate novel and alternative approaches, including a minimal medication approach and an ethos fostering individuation, not dependence. |
| Live Stream Link |
Thursday 12 November:
Please note. The programme has changed
| 09:45 | Dina Poursanidou | A Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, based at the Service User Research Enterprise; Dina has used mental health services since 2008; Member of Asylum, the magazine for democratic psychiatry. |
| Live Stream Link | ||
| 10:45 | Rory Doody | A Recovery Development Advocate. He is a voice hearer and engages with his own mental health as often as he breathes! Plagued by inner questions like “who does this serve?” he enquires in the different areas of his work, involving education, case work, service and policy developments, structural change, and good intentions. |
| Live Stream Link | ||
| 12:00 | Wilma Boevink |
Screening of her documentary, Mad Pride
|
| 14:00 | Gary Sidley | A freelance writer and trainer who, in 2013, opted for early retirement from his post of Professional Lead/Consultant Clinical Psychologist after 33 continuous years of employment in mental health services. He writes on a range of topics, including: alternatives to biological psychiatry (his book, Tales from the Madhouse: An insider critique of psychiatric services was published by PCCS Books in February 2015); general interest articles and humour. |
| Live Stream Link |
Concurrent Sessions:
Download the Book of Abstracts (here) for information on concurrent sessions
Full Programme
You Can download the Full Programme (here)
Conference organisers: Lydia Sapouna, School of Applied Social Studies; Harry Gijbels, Catherine McAuley School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork, Ireland.
- Details
Information for Delegates
Programme Schedule
Please see the download section for the program schedule.
Attendance
The conference is now almost fully booked with 500+ delegates each day. If you are no longer able to attend, or if you are changing your registration days, please let us know immediately by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so we can offer your place to someone else. Please do not re-confirm your registration if you are attending.
Registration
Please bring your email booking confirmation slip to the registration desk on the morning of your attendance. If you are attending both days, you only need to register on Wednesday.
Registration starts at 8.00 am on Wednesday, with the conference starting at 9.30 am sharp.
For those who are attending on Thursday only, registration starts at 8.30 am with the conference starting at 9.30 am sharp.
WiFi Availability
If you are a university student or work at a university, you should be able to pick up eduroam on your WiFi setting (access by using the username and password assigned by your home institution). For those who do not that availability, a guest WiFi has been set (this will work during the two conference days only):
Username: soc11nov15
Password: 9gb3Ykfc
Getting to Brookfield
Check http://www.ucc.ie/en/visitors/getting-here/ See attached map. Brookfield Health Sciences Complex map reference is No13 Grid C7.
Live streaming of keynote presentations
To accommodate all the registered delegates, the keynote presentations will be streamed from the main lecture theatre to other rooms in Brookfield Health Sciences Complex (BHSC). Seating operates on a ‘first come first serve’ basis, so if the main lecture theatre, where the key note is held, is full you will be directed to the other rooms.
Concurrent presentations/workshops
There are 42 concurrent presentations/workshops scheduled across the two days. Venue name, room number e.g. BHSC G04 are followed by a figure e.g. (120). The latter refers to the maximum number of people the workshop can accommodate. There is no pre-registration for the workshops, so if a workshop is full, please go to another one. Most concurrent presentations/workshops are held in BHSC, with two concurrent presentations/workshops scheduled for WGB (Western Gateway Building), a 2 minute walk across the footbridge between BHSC and WGB (building No81 Grid C6 on the map).
Lunch Venues
As the conference takes place during the academic year, the local restaurants, Brookfield Restaurant and WGB restaurant will be extremely busy. Please use other nearby facilities (see Book of Abstracts for details) or bring a packed lunch.
Book of Abstracts
The Book of Abstracts will be emailed to you within the next few days. The programme scheduleand the Book of Abstracts will also be available on www.cvni.ie,http://www.ucc.ie/en/nursingmidwifery/news/ and on www.ucc.ie/en/appsoc in advance of the conference. Due to the conference’s limited budget (see below) we would ask you to bring a printed copy of the programme schedule and the Book of Abstracts with you to the conference. There will only be a limited number of printed copies of the conference programme and the Book of Abstracts at the registration desk.
Donations
As you may know, one of the unique features of this annual conference is that it is a free event, supported by a very small budget. Since 2013, following delegates’ enquiries about making donations, there has been a donation box at the registration desk. Please feel free to contribute if you wish (either cash or cheque made payable to CVNI to be lodged into the CVNI conference account). We do not accept donations which compromise the ethos and values of the conference.
Parking
Please see attached visitor parking PDF. Parking is difficult. The best and cheapest place to park is next to the Kingsley Hotel on the Carrigrohane Road. From there it is a 10 minute walk to Brookfield via the footbridge at the back of the Western Gate Way Building No81 Grid C6 on the map.
Accommodation
Check http://www.uccconferencing.ie/walking-distance/ Accommodation around Western Road is within 15 minute walk of Brookfield.
If you have any queries, please contact either Lydia Sapouna at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 021 4903495, or Harry Gijbels at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 021 4901551.
We look forward to seeing you at the conference.
- Details
Order of Keynote Speakers Confirmed
7th ANNUAL CONFERENCE 11 AND 12 NOVEMBER 2015
‘CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON AND BEYOND THE THERAPY INDUSTRY’
Conference Announcement and Registration Details organised by the School of Applied Social Studies and the Catherine McAuley School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork, in association with the Critical Voices Network Ireland
Venue: Brookfield Health Sciences Complex, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Conference Aims
This year’s conference aims to explore and debate critical perspectives on:
- The value of talking therapies
- The politics of the therapy industry
- Talking therapies as another expert system
- Other ways (beyond therapies) to support people in distress
This conference, now in its seventh year, is unique as it is free for all participants and it involves people from diverse backgrounds (self-experience, survivors, professionals, academics, carers) presenting, discussing and debating critical and creative perspectives on and beyond the dominant bio-medical approach. The 2010 conference saw the launch of the Critical Voices Network Ireland (CVNI), a network of people interested in considering and developing responses to human distress, which are creative, enabling, respectful and firmly grounded in human rights.
Confirmed Keynote Speakers:
Wednesday 11 November 2015:
| 09:45 | David Pilgrim | An Honorary Professor of Health & Social Policy at the University of Liverpool and Visiting Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Southampton. His career has been divided between working as a policy researcher and as a clinical psychologist in the British NHS. |
| 10:30 | Dina Poursanidou | A Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, based at the Service User Research Enterprise; Dina has used mental health services since 2008; Member of Asylum, the magazine for democratic psychiatry. |
| 13:45 | Malcolm Garland | A consultant psychiatrist in Dublin. His team tries to incorporate novel and alternative approaches, including a minimal medication approach and an ethos fostering individuation, not dependence. |
Thursday 12 November:
| 09:45 | Jacqui Dillon | is a respected speaker, writer and activist, who has lectured and published worldwide on trauma, psychosis, dissociation and recovery. Jacqui is the national Chair of the Hearing Voices Network in England. |
| 10:30 | Wilma Boevink | An experiential expert, social scientist at the Trimbos-Institute, the Netherlands. Former Professor of Recovery and founder of Tree (towards Recovery, Empowerment and Experiential Expertise). |
| 13:45 | Rory Doody | A Recovery Development Advocate. He is a voice hearer and engages with his own mental health as often as he breathes! Plagued by inner questions like “who does this serve?” he enquires in the different areas of his work, involving education, case work, service and policy developments, structural change, and good intentions. |
Concurrent Sessions:
The conference also includes 42 concurrent workshops and oral presentations across the two days, in 6 sessions of 7 workshops per session, related to the conference theme.
Full Programme
Full programme: full details will be available around mid-October here on www.cvni.ie and also on www.ucc.ie/en/nursingmidwifery/news/ and www.ucc.ie/en/appsoc/resconf/conf/ . Check www.uccconferencing.ie/walking-distance/ for accommodation. To get to Brookfield (UCC) check www.ucc.ie/en/visitors/getting-here/ Parking facilities are limited around UCC. Try the car park next to the Kingsley Hotel, Victoria Cross (10 walk from venue via footbridge behind Western Gateway Building on Western Road). Coffees and lunches not included. There are restaurants and cafes in and around the conference venue.
Other Details
How to register: to book a place, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. make sure you give your name, and indicate the day(s) you wish to attend (either Wednesday 11 November, Thursday 12 November, or both days). Booking will be confirmed by return email. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CONFERENCE IS NOW NEARLY FULLY BOOKED
Conference organisers: Lydia Sapouna, School of Applied Social Studies; Harry Gijbels, Catherine McAuley School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork, Ireland.
- Details