I was so excited to hear confirmation today that this has now gone to publication at the British Psychological Society, endorsed by the Association of Clinical Psychologists.
It was a pulling together of many stakeholders to complete it, in both heart & head work, lived experience professionals at its core, to help improve training culture, processes and procedures.
It has been my best job ever, up there with setting up in2gr8mentalhealth, and completely consonant with its mission to value, support and destigmatise lived experience in the mental health professions. It's why I was so happy to be involved, it's importantfromnot only form a peer power base, but then also reach out to the pillars of the mental health scene (professional bodies, Trusts, training institutions) to help make change happen.
It was also my first job back in mental health since breaking down. It was a big step for me to wear my heart on my sleeves apply to be a research fellow open about my lived experience from the start. I was determined to do authentic work and hopes to have that core to the development of the Guide; the interview for the job itself was a moving moment.
I was proud to be part of the team at UCL Unit for Stigma Research (UCLUS), they are brilliant to work with and we all pulled together on getting this done. The stakeholder working group was essential to its development.
I'm looking forward to the launch in November and delivering some teaching to the UCL trainees in the autumn term.
What a day! I've never had my name printed on a published document before; to have this for the first time on something so central to my core values, to have this opportunity, has been nothing less than a huge gift and some serious heart graft. Massive thank yous to Katrina Scior, Henry Clements and Kathy White at UCLUS.
