10:15-11:15 Navigating crisis and change (Theatre)
This opening session will showcase the Centre’s research on the effects of contemporary crises on mental health and health service responses. We’ll explore the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis, examining challenges and responses from both health services and communities.
Speakers: Craig Morgan, Rebecca Rhead, Haruka Goto, Jayati Das-Munshi, Marina Kousta, Sally Marlow
Links
- A Life Less Safe: Invitation to a special screening at Brixton Ritzy, 10th October 2024
A film exploring the experiences of Black and other racially minoritised people living with severe mental and physical health conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic
- Addressing the overlooked challenges faced by young people: A call for a government mission
- Covid-19 diary project. REACH Study.
- Das-Munshi, J., Bakolis, I., Becares, L., Dasch, H., Dyer, J., Hotopf, M., Hildersley, R., Ocloo, J., Stewart, R., Stuart, R., & Dregan, A. (2024). Long term mortality trends in people with severe mental illnesses (Smi) and how COVID-19, ethnicity and other chronic mental health comorbidities contributed: A retrospective cohort study. Psychological Medicine.
- Das-Munshi, J., Bakolis, I., Bécares, L., Dyer, J., Hotopf, M., Ocloo, J., Stewart, R., Stuart, R., & Dregan, A. (2023). Severe mental illness, race/ethnicity, multimorbidity and mortality following COVID-19 infection: Nationally representative cohort study. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 223(5), 518–525.
- El Zerbi, C., Hartopp, N., Ramsay, A., & Marlow, S. (2022). More tangible and less theoretical’: Understandings and experiences of neighbourhood-led Mutual Aid groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Civil Society, 18(4), 453–467.
- Festival for young people 2021. REACH Study.
- Kienzler, H. (2024). Community integration, quality of life, thriving, and mental health among refugees and asylum seekers. A London service provider perspective. Frontiers in Public Health, 12.
- Moreno-Agostino, D., Chanfreau, J., Knowles, G., Pelikh, A., Das-Munshi, J., & Ploubidis, G. B. (2023). Gender inequalities in the disruption of long-term life satisfaction trajectories during the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of time use: Evidence from the 1970 British birth cohort. medRxiv.
- People with severe mental illness at 50 per cent higher risk of death following COVID-19 infection. King’s College London.
- REACH Diary Study takes deep dive into the impact of COVID-19
- Rhead, R., Wels, J., Moltrecht, B., Shaw, R. J., Silverwood, R., Zhu, J., Hughes, A., Chaturvedi, N., Demou, E., Katikireddi, S. V., & Ploubidis, G. (2024). Long COVID and financial outcomes: Evidence from four longitudinal population surveys. J Epidemiol Community Health, 78(7), 458–465.
- Study shows discrimination and ethnic inequalities among NHS staff during the pandemic.
- Welfare reform, poverty, food bank use and mental health in the UK
11:45-12:45 Addressing complexity: intersectional and multiple-level approaches to understanding social inequalities in mental health (Theatre)
A series of lightning talks by Centre researchers featuring findings that document and examine social inequalities in mental health from the individual to societal level. Drawing on research with communities, schools, health services, and neighbourhoods, the presenters will illustrate how different systems of oppression such as racism and sexism produce unique challenges for people living at the intersections of multiple social identities and positions. After the presentations, there will be an open discussion on the opportunities and challenges in future.
Speakers and contributors: Darío Moreno-Agostino, Dörte Bemme, Gemma Knowles, Daniel Stanyon, Rachel Latham, River Újhadbor, Thai-Sha Richards
Links
- Moreno-Agostino, D., Woodhead, C., Ploubidis, G. B., & Das-Munshi, J. (2024). A quantitative approach to the intersectional study of mental health inequalities during the COVID-19 pandemic in UK young adults. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 59(3), 417-429. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-023-02424-0
- Moreno-Agostino, D., Fisher, H. L., Hatch, S. L., Morgan, C., Ploubidis, G. B., & Das-Munshi, J. (2023). Generational, sex, and socioeconomic inequalities in mental and social wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic: prospective longitudinal observational study of five UK cohorts. Psychological Medicine, 53(13), 6403-6414. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291722003348
- Knowles, G., Stanyon, D., Yamasaki, S., Miyashita, M., Gayer-Anderson, C., Endo, K., Usami, S., Niimura, J., Nakajima, N., Baba, K., Group, T. Y. P. A., Richards, T., Kitisu, J., Hashi, A., Clement-Gbede, K. S., Tettey, N., Davis, S., Lowis, K., Buckley, V., … Nishida, A. (2023). Gender inequalities in trajectories of depressive symptoms among young people in London and Tokyo: A longitudinal cross-cohort study. medRxiv.
- Latham, R. M., Arseneault, L., Alexandrescu, B., Baldoza, S., Carter, A., Moffitt, T. E., Newbury, J. B., & Fisher, H. L. (2022). Violent experiences and neighbourhoods during adolescence: Understanding and mitigating the association with mental health at the transition to adulthood in a longitudinal cohort study. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 57(12), 2379–2391.
- Latham, R. M., Kieling, C., Arseneault, L., Botter-Maio Rocha, T., Beddows, A., Beevers, S. D., Danese, A., De Oliveira, K., Kohrt, B. A., Moffitt, T. E., Mondelli, V., Newbury, J. B., Reuben, A., & Fisher, H. L. (2021). Childhood exposure to ambient air pollution and predicting individual risk of depression onset in UK adolescents. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 138, 60–67.
- Latham, R. M., Kieling, C., Arseneault, L., Kohrt, B. A., Moffitt, T. E., Rasmussen, L. J. H., Rocha, T. B.-M., Mondelli, V., & Fisher, H. L. (2022). Longitudinal associations between adolescents’ individualised risk for depression and inflammation in a UK cohort study. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 101, 78–83.
11:45-12:45 The health-related inactivity debate: mental health, work and the UK welfare system (Studio)
In recent years, there has been a huge growth in media coverage and public debate about rises in health-related inactivity and benefit claims. But these discussions often miss crucial aspects of the realities behind these policies and the ways they affect people’s lives. In this session, hear about new and emerging Centre research that sheds light on this topic. We’ll debunk common myths and challenge popular claims, drawing on the evidence of real levels of mental distress among claimants, the failure of the benefits system to respond to people’s varied challenges, and the significant, yet often ignored, role of changing working conditions.
Speakers and contributors: Ben Geiger, Annie Irvine, Cassandra Lovelock, Catherine Hale, Constance Beaufils, Dolly Sen - artist & writer, Ludovico Carrino
Links
- After the WCA: Competing Visions of Disability and Welfare
- Belloni, M., Carrino, L., & Meschi, E. (2022). The impact of working conditions on mental health: Novel evidence from the UK (SSRN Scholarly Paper 4019393).
- Can flexible job design help people with fluctuating disabilities? | Feature
- Can flexible job design improve employment outcomes for people with fluctuating disabilities?
More information about the project
- Irvine, A., & Haggar, T. (2024). Conceptualising the social in mental health and work capability: Implications of medicalised framing in the UK welfare system. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 59(3), 455–465.
- Personal independence payments (Pip) among people who access mental health services
- The mental health conversation hasn’t gone too far, but has it become too narrow?
13:45-14:45 ‘Staying with the trouble’: Equity, research cultures and lived experience expertise in mental health research (Theatre)
This session will bring together lived experience experts, academics, community partners, artists and those with dual identities, to discuss the ways in which integrating lived experience perspectives and expertise into mental health research can create innovative, transformative outputs that make a difference to the lives of people experiencing mental distress. We’ll share examples of innovative methods and approaches from across the Centre, with a focus on the relational and invisible labour that contributes to achieving epistemic justice in the research we undertake. The projects we’ll highlight include our Lived Experience Advisory Board’s position paper, a musicmaking toolkit, a lived experience-led project on the language of survivorhood and a preview of the forthcoming Lancet Commission on Lived Experience in Mental Health.
Speakers: Sally Marlow, Sonia Thompson, Alison Faulkner, Laura E Fischer -Traumascapes, James Lane - Jack Drum Arts and member of the Centre’s Lived Experience Advisory Board , Roz Etwaria - Little Ro, Sullivan Holderbach
Links
13:45-14:45 Connecting and thriving: communities and agency in the face of health inequities (Studio)
Understanding how different ethnically and racially minoritised communities connect and thrive is an emerging priority area in mental health promotion. This panel features studies investigating social capital as a resource that benefits (or hinders) communities and their mental health with a focus on food security, faith and religious spaces, and sanctuary seeking. Taking a strength-based approach and an anti-racism lens, we acknowledge the underpinning role of racism in creating health inequities while acknowledging people’s agency to connect and thrive in challenging circumstances.
Speakers: Hanna Kienzler, Dorothy Williams, Janahan Sivanathan - King’s Sanctuary and member of the Centre’s Lived Experience Advisory Board, Nathan Stanley - Black Thrive, Rebecca Rhead, Sanchika Campbell
Links
- BELONGINGS - a new exhibition and events programme that challenges anti-asylum narratives and creates pathways to belonging with people seeking sanctuary
Open from Wednesday 2 October – Friday 8 November 2024
In The Arcade, Bush House, King’s College London
Please see link above for full events programme and ticket registration pages.
- Black Thrive Lambeth
- Gnan, G., Asif, Z., Campbell, S., Dyer, J., Ehsan, A., Hoffmann, K., Kienzler, H., Mellick, S., Martin, N., Osei, C., Rebello, A., Remouche, I., Rhead, R., Richards, D., Sabra, I., Sabra, S., Sterk, P., Woodhead, C., & Hatch, S. (2023). A mixed methods PAR study investigating social capital as a resource for Black and other racially minoritised communities in the UK: A study protocol. PLOS ONE, 18(12), e0296125.
- Kienzler, H. (2024). Community integration, quality of life, thriving, and mental health among refugees and asylum seekers. A London service provider perspective. Frontiers in Public Health, 12.
- King’s Sanctuary Programme
- PRiSM project explores religion, spirituality and mental health in Southeast London faith communities
- Our journey from seeking asylum to lived experience leadership
- Perspectives on religion and spirituality in coping with mental health (Prism) project
- Refugee mental health and place network
15:00-16:00 Improving public services: policy and practice in the UK (Theatre)
Public services have a massive impact on the mental health of those who use them. Well-resourced, accessible, and effective public services can act to boost the protective factors that enable people to enjoy good mental health, and reduce the risk factors to mental health. However, public services in the UK are currently under-resourced, under-performing, and unable to meet the needs of all, particularly disadvantaged and marginalised groups. This failure has had serious negative ramifications in terms of mental health and wellbeing. This panel session with researchers from King’s Policy Institute will discuss the impact that public services can have on public mental health, and potential policy solutions which can simultaneously improve public service performance and meet service users' needs.
Speakers: Gabriel Lawson, Anna Greenburgh, Ben Geiger, Gabrielle Duberry - Black Thrive, Helen Baldwin, Jonas Kitisu, Young Person’s Community Champion, REACH, Rebecca Rhead
Links
- Asif, Z., & Kienzler, H. (2022). Structural barriers to refugee, asylum seeker and undocumented migrant healthcare access. Perceptions of Doctors of the World caseworkers in the UK. SSM - Mental Health, 2, 100088.
- Kienzler, H. (2024). Community integration, quality of life, thriving, and mental health among refugees and asylum seekers. A London service provider perspective. Frontiers in Public Health, 12.
- Knowles, G., Gayer‐Anderson, C., Turner, A., Dorn, L., Lam, J., Davis, S., Blakey, R., Lowis, K., Schools Working Group, Young Persons Advisory Group, Pinfold, V., Creary, N., Dyer, J., Hatch, S. L., Ploubidis, G., Bhui, K., Harding, S., & Morgan, C. (2022). Covid‐19, social restrictions, and mental distress among young people: A UK longitudinal, population‐based study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 63(11), 1392–1404.
- Rhead, R., Harber-Aschan, L., Onwumere, J., Polling, C., Dorrington, S., Ehsan, A., Stevelink, S. A. M., Khunti, K., Mir, G., Morriss, R., Wessely, S., Woodhead, C., & Hatch, S. (2024). Ethnic inequalities among NHS staff in England: Workplace experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 81(3), 113–121.
- The importance of meaningful integration for the mental health of asylum seekers and refugees.
- Understanding the impact of the cost of living crisis
- Woodhead, C., Stoll, N., Harwood, H., TIDES Study Team, Alexis, O., & Hatch, S. L. (2022). “They created a team of almost entirely the people who work and are like them”: A qualitative study of organisational culture and racialised inequalities among healthcare staff. Sociology of Health & Illness, 44(2), 267–289.