CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON AND BEYOND ACTIVISM AND ACTS OF RESISTANCE

For many years now, individuals and groups have engaged with activism to raise concerns in the area commonly referred to as ‘mental health’. Such activism has seen the emergence of collective forms of inquiry, knowledge production and resistance (with some innovative changes), which challenge us all to move beyond traditional understandings and practices. This conference, nowin its 8th year, aims to explore and debate critical perspectives on and beyond:

• Acts of resistance within and outside academic and service systems
• The impact of activism on democratising mental health care
• The importance of socio-political perspectives in understanding and responding to human distress
• Co-option of resistance into dominant systems

Lydia Sapouna, School of Applied Social Studies and Harry Gijbels, School of Nursing and Midwifery (retired).