ISPS Liverpool 2017 – Making Real Change Happen
On the 30th of August, fellow CADP student Laura and I tentatively boarded our train to Liverpool. We were heading to our first international conference to present our PhD projects. Luckily for us, we couldn’t have picked a more welcoming conference! We chose the ISPS (International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis), the theme of the event was ‘making real change happen’.
I could use this blog post to tell you about the research Laura and I presented. But I won’t do that. Instead, I’ll use this space to share some of the insights I gained from the thoughtful and inspiring people I heard speak on the topic of change.
An in-the-moment change
Firstly, Rachel (Rai) Waddingham spoke to us about humility. Rai told us that it’s ok not to know everything, and can be damaging to assume knowledge of another’s thoughts and feelings. Rai’s talk was considered and caring. As an audience member feeling the nerves for my own talk later in the day, I felt soothed by Rai’s words – a personal change in the moment. It became ok to feel uncertain about aspects of my presentation, allowing me to see it as an opportunity to present my thoughts and hear others views. My anxiety stirred to curiosity.
A societal change
On Friday morning, Kwame McKenzie told us that we, as a society, must change. Kwame used a warning from the London tube - ‘mind the gap’ - as a metaphor for societal inequality. He presented wide ranging and relevant statistics to back his view that we need to change the way we think about and look after our most vulnerable, and get away from the popular idea of ‘cost effectiveness’, in order to close the social inequality gap. One of the most shocking statistics Kwame told us was that someone from the UK with a diagnosis of ‘serious mental illness’ has a life expectancy comparable to the average person living in South Sudan. That blew my mind a little bit. Of course I could delve into the many complex issues about what may be going on here, but that’s perhaps another blog post for another day. For now, I will simply relate it back to conference theme – making real change happen. I think many of us have ideas about what needs to change, it’s the making it happen we struggle with. Local MP Luciana Berger put the ball in our court when she asked us how many of us had ever written to our local MP, or arranged to meet with them over an issue we care about. I know I haven’t. I know now, more than ever, that I should.
A powerful moment
An instant from the conference that will stick with me, is when Debra Lampshire asked people (clinicians, family members) to stand if they had ever cried for or lost sleep for someone in their care. Everyone stood up. We stood for human connection. To me, it symbolised what we can achieve by working together, we can’t do it alone and we don’t need to feel alone. Debra showed us we aren’t.
A suggested change for ISPS
If I could see one change in future ISPS events, it would be to see more young people in attendance. Incidentally I turned 30 at the weekend (I made it!), and I felt like one of the younger ones there. As someone who works in a service supporting young people aged between 12 and 21 experiencing psychosis, I would have liked more teenagers and young adults at the event. One of my favourite things about the conference was that there was a balance between experts by experience, clinicians, family members, and people from academia and other backgrounds. The event left me feeling hopeful for the future and I think it could have had a similar effect for some of the young people I know.
Maintaining change
As you may have gathered, I left the conference feeling refreshed and enthused. I would like to thank ISPS for putting on a wonderful event, Laura, who I travel this bumpy PhD road with, and my supervisors Helen and Matthias for supporting us to go. I’d like to hold on to the idea that change is possible through human connection as I go back to my daily life. Luckily for me, there’s another event next week epitomising these values – the brilliant students of CADP are hosting a knowledge exchange and networking event to help us PhD Students and Post Docs across Scotland work together and bring about change. I’m incredibly excited to see what we can do!
