Transforming Mental Health Systems Through Lived Experience Knowledge- 3-4pm Can an Alternative Become an Addition? Implementing Hearing Voices in Health Systems - Alison Branitzky PhD, Cindy Marty Hadge, BS, IPS, Sahastri Hercules BS, Erica Hua Fletcher PhD, Ippolytos Kalofonos MD PhD MPH
- 4-4:30pm What We Bring to the Table: Lived Experience, Co-Creation, and Resisting Stigma in Research - Rosalba Perez, Laura López-Aybar, PhD
Can an Alternative Become an Addition? Implementing Hearing Voices in Health Systems - Alison Branitzky PhD, Cindy Marty Hadge, BS, IPS, Sahastri Hercules BS, Erica Hua Fletcher PhD, Ippolytos Kalofonos MD PhD MPH
The Hearing Voices Movement has developed as a survivor-led initiative, advocating for the reform of mental health services, promoting the rights of voice-hearers, and working collaboratively with individuals to explore the meaning of their voices and work towards recovery (Corstens et al 2014). Clinical services traditionally position voice hearing as a marker of pathology and strive to eliminate and suppress voices. Researchers, clinicians, and advocates interested in bringing interventions – such as Hearing Voices groups – to health systems must validate these approaches within the “evidence-based practice” paradigm, using traditional research methods of the medical and social sciences, which tend to favor clinical outcomes over personal experiences of transformation. The Hearing Voices Movement has had an “uneasy” tension with the potential for clinical outcomes superseding personal accounts of recovery and growth from participation in the Hearing Voices movement. This panel brings together service users, peer specialists, activists, researchers, and clinicians to share their experiences implementing Hearing Voices groups in the US, within the context of the Veterans Affairs health system, and in the UK, within the context of the National Health Service.
What We Bring to the Table: Lived Experience, Co-Creation, and Resisting Stigma in Research - Rosalba Perez, Laura López-Aybar, PhD
How are we turning lived experience knowledge of psychosis and mental health systems into meaningful research and collaborations? This presentation will cover the role of co-creation within a suicide prevention program evaluation and at an early intervention program for psychosis (OnTrackNY). The two presenters are people with varied lived experiences of psychosis who have crossed paths at different points in their careers and recovery journeys. One works as a doctoral-level lived experience researcher at the Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence, researching suicide prevention, psychiatric coercion, and structural stigma. The other works as a co-creation specialist and lived experience consultant for OnTrackNY on projects related to anti-stigma efforts, shared decision-making, and suicide prevention. This presentation would integrate the experiences of both and how it informs their research on mental health while navigating societal, professional, and personal barriers (e.g., stigma, capacity building, and accessibility). Through the presentation, we will define what co-creation is, its importance, and how it shapes our work. Guidance and subtle ways to resist stigma will also be addressed, specifically through sharing our experiences of co-facilitating a youth advisory council. Additionally, we will discuss how engaging in this collaboration has supported our recovery journeys and professional goals.
