From Control to Connection: Human Rights Aligned Approaches- 3:30-4pm Lived Wisdom, Dialogic Practice, Trust, and Respect: Best Practices from a Human Rights Perspective - Claire Bien, MEd
- 4-4:30pm In the Openness of the Beast's Eye: A Study of a Different Response to the Crisis in Mental Health in a Brazilian City - Jana Koosah, PhD Student
- 4:30-5pm Provision of Psychological and Psychosocial Interventions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: The Case of Early Intervention in Psychosis - Ruben Valle
Lived Wisdom, Dialogic Practice, Trust, and Respect: Best Practices from a Human Rights Perspective - Claire Bien, MEd
This talk speaks to the ways in which the social conditions of our lives, including imbalances of power, stigma, cultural misunderstandings, and racism, influence perception and treatment. The goal is to instill within the professionals who have vast power over the rest of a person’s life the necessity of beginning with a large measure of professional humility, addressing each individual, each interaction, each conversation, each diagnosis, and each disposition, with a clear understanding of the reasons for the actions, behaviors, and concerns that brought the person who stands or sits before them into their awareness. The talk is drawn largely from a chapter I wrote for a book entitled Prescribing Psychiatric Medications: The How, Why, and Why Not, edited by John D. Cahill, MD, and Keith Gallagher, MD, to be published by Cambridge University Press in late 2026/early 2027. The chapter, entitled: "Wisdom from without: what can we learn from the consumer movement about prescribing well,” speaks to the vastness of human experience and vulnerability and presents critically important perspectives of the disability rights/mental health recovery/peer/survivor movements, with an emphasis on human rights, person-centered and trauma-informed approaches to treatment, mutual trust and responsibility, and shared decision making among all parties. It is informed by my own lived experience as well as by the lived wisdom and experiences of colleagues and friends in the Hearing Voices Network, ISPS, and the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health.
In the Openness of the Beast's Eye: A Study of a Different Response to the Crisis in Mental Health in a Brazilian City - Jana Koosah, PhD Student
My research in Brazil examines a new approach to crisis management that does not involve coercion and makes use of 24-hour community centres. This approach fosters autonomy and heteronomy without servitude. Drawing on the work of Basaglia, Foucault, Fanon, Castel, Tosquelles and critical psychoanalysis, the study explores crisis as a situation that links health, social suffering, power and knowledge rather than as an individual psychiatric disorder. The study argues that responses to crisis outside of psychiatric isolation can become practices of collective transformation, mutual care, and socio-political recomposition. It therefore emphasises territoriality and critiques psychiatric colonisation.
Provision of Psychological and Psychosocial Interventions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: The Case of Early Intervention in Psychosis - Ruben ValleEarly Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) is grounded in the principles of early intervention and phase-specific treatment. Consequently, EIP is not limited to pharmacological management but relies on a broad set of evidence-based psychological and psychosocial strategies that address the diverse needs of people with emerging psychosis. Research has demonstrated the existence of EIP programs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs); however, their capacity to deliver such interventions remains largely understudied, particularly given that mental health systems in LMICs struggle to provide comprehensive mental health care. This presentation synthesizes the current state of psychological and psychosocial strategy provision within EIP services in LMICs, drawing on two complementary studies.A systematic review showed that most EIP programs in LMICs reported only a limited set of psychological and psychosocial strategies. The most consistently offered interventions were individual psychoeducation and family education or support. Major gaps were observed in the provision of supported employment, educational support, and structured engagement and retention strategies. Among the few studies evaluating effectiveness, the addition of psychological and psychosocial components to antipsychotic medication produced better outcomes than medication alone across most domains.A case-study of 10 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean examined in depth the provision of psychological and psychosocial care within EIP programs and related initiatives. Findings confirmed the scarcity of psychological and psychosocial interventions and highlighted key barriers such as limited trained human resources, non-protocolized care pathways, and care models reliant on personnel in training. At the same time, the study documented the limited implementation of innovative care models, as well as the insufficient involvement of service users and families in program design, delivery, and cultural adaptation.Together, these findings show that delivering comprehensive psychological and psychosocial care remains challenging in LMICs, even in the context of specialized health services. Advancing their provision in LMICs may involve the use of novel care delivery methods (i.e., task-sharing and task-shifting) and digital health technologies that have demonstrated benefits in other areas, while assuring co-participation with key stakeholders and culturally responsive adaptation.
