EFFECTING CHANGE

3rd CICSI Summer School 12-13 June 2025, Wivenhoe House Hotel, Colchester

“‘A feast of wonderful conversations and stimulating presentations.”

"Very well curated, organised, multi-disciplinary, a lot of care went into the whole thing, and everyone was lovely, it was one of the warmest conferences I've been to!"

“The format was perfect… it was all stimulating and energised all the way through"

How can we effect change to end coercion in mental health settings and

change the social context causing distress?

The Centre for Investigating Contemporary Social Ills (CICSI)

together with the School of Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Essex (PHAIS) present

the 3rd CICSI Summer School

taught by leading experts and practitioners from three countries, including Dainius Pūras, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, whose influential 2017 report called for ending coercion in mental health settings and wider social change to alleviate and prevent distress.

The programme builds on the earlier two CICSI Summer Schools held in 2023 and 2024, on De-Medicalising Distress, and on Addressing the Social Context of Distress, but no previous knowledge or attendance is necessary.

The Summer School is taught in person and runs over 2 days and consists of a mixture of presentations, interactive exercises, and case study discussions.

Day 1 is focused on ending coercion in mental health settings
Day 2 focuses on effecting wider social change, via lobbying, activism, bringing social patterns of distress into view in therapy sessions, and paying attention to our values and ways of living.

Suitable for GPs, psychiatrists, counsellors and therapists, and other mental health professionals; policy-makers; social workers; experts-by-experience/service users/survivors; and researchers and students from various social and health related fields.

The participants will gain a critical understanding of everything that is coercive in mental health settings – and learn about good practices of ending or minimising this coercion. We will also explore how to effect wider social change, from the policy level to the therapy sessions to our own values and psychic attachments.

You are welcome to bring your own case studies and examples and questions from your work or research.

Registrations open for 2025

“CICSI is an antidote to any malaise researchers, clinicians and academics involved in mental heath work might sleep walk into. It offers a philosophical & practical challenge to the seemingly grinding machine of orthodoxy in the treatment and understanding of 'mental health"

“ So many highlights! Hearing from a wide range of excellent speakers, being in the company of such engaged, positive, people, from a range of disciplines who I don't often have the opportunity to meet. I felt that the progression of the themes over the three days also worked incredibly well - gradually moving the focus from the theoretical/historical to the practical/applied. I really enjoyed this feeling of the conversation evolving over the days. The format of the event was also excellent and really different from a standard conference...worked so well to create a sense of community."

“It's a forum for ideas but also to listen to successes from practice, including international examples both structural, individual and theoretical. I leave the conference not just intellectually invigorated but with sound practical knowledge that I will incorporate into my working life. A fantastically well organised inspirational conference in beautiful grounds with great catering.”

Speakers

Vilnius University, Lithuania

Prof Dainius Pūras

Professor of Child Psychiatry and Public Mental Health at Vilnius University, and the director of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute, Lithuania. In 2007-2011, a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health from 2014 to 2020, producing a landmark report on mental health provision, calling for an end to coercion and for addressing the

wider social context. Actively involved during the last 30 years in the process of transforming public health policies and services.

University of Essex

Prof Fabian Freyenhagen

Professor of Philosophy and member of the Essex Human Rights Centre. Working in areas of Social and Political Philosophy and Philosophy of Psychiatry, with a focus on mental distress and its social conditions, and on autonomy in the contexts of care. Author of Adorno's Practical Philosophy: Living Less Wrongly, and papers on Critical Theory and Social Pathology. CICSI's founding director.

University of East London

Prof Mary Boyle

Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of East London where she led the Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology.

Held NHS posts in adult mental health and women’s health. Author of “Schizophrenia:

A scientific delusion?” and many papers on feminist approaches to women’s health and on problems of and alternatives to psychiatric

diagnosis. Lead author, with Lucy Johnstone, of the Power Threat Meaning Framework.

Centre for Mental Health, UK

Ed Davie

Lead author of A Mentally Healthier Nation: Towards a ten-year, cross-government plan for better prevention, equality and support; designer and deliverer of the Thrive LDN Mentally Healthier Councils training programme delivered to 532 elected members in 32 boroughs; over a decade as a Local Government Association Expert Peer advising councils all over England, and serving as a senior Lambeth Councillor including as Cabinet Member and LGIU-award-winning scrutiny chair.

Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Integrata Trieste, Italy

Dr Roberto Mezzina

Former Director of the Mental Health Department in Trieste, a WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training during his tenure. Publications including on Basaglia’s impact, deinstitutionalization, and empowerment; supporting the development of community-based services and programs, which are person-centred and value-based (human rights), including in a London Borough.

International Peer Support

Lisa Archibald

20 years of experience in setting up, coordinating and training peer communities and networks. After a rocky childhood, eventually found peer support in the 1990’s. Started to facilitate youth peer support groups initially in Scotland and then advocacy services and adult peer support groups internationally. A passionate activist for social change. Dedicated to supporting grassroots peer communities in growing and thriving without being co-opted along the way. Co-Director of International Peer Support.

TBC

Two more speakers to be added

We are in the process of signing up two more speakers so watch this space...

TBC

Two more speakers to be added

We are in the process of signing up two more speakers so watch this space...

Schedule

Provisional Schedule

DAY 1

~ ARRIVAL AND COFFEE FROM 8:45 ~

10:00-10:15

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

10:15-11:30

VARIETIES OF COERCION

Prof Fabian Freyenhagen

~ BREAK WITH REFRESHMENTS 11:30-11:45 ~

11:45-13:00

ENDING COERCION

Prof Danius Pūras

~ LUNCH 13:00 - 14:15 ~

14:15-15:30

HOW TO ADDRESS SEVERE DISTRESS WITHOUT COERCION

Case study discussion led by Lisa Archibald

~ BREAK WITH REFRESHMENTS 15:30-16:00 ~

16:00-17:30

CHANGING THE SERVICE INFRASTRUCTURE TO END COERCION

Dr Roberto Mezzina

~ DINNER 18:30 - 20:30 ~

Schedule

DAY 2

~ COFFEE FROM 8:45 ~

09:00-10:15

LOBBYING FOR CHANGE

Ed Davie

BREAK WITH REFRESHMENTS 10:15 - 10:45

10:45-12:00

ACTIVISM IN DAILY LIFE?

Tbc

~ LUNCH 12:00 - 13:00 ~

13:00-14:15

SOCIAL PATTERNS OF DISTRESS

Prof Mary Boyle

BREAK WITH REFRESHMENTS 14:15 - 14:30

14:30-15:45

PAYING ATTENTION TO OUR VALUES AND WAYS OF LIVING

Tbc

BREAK WITH REFRESHMENTS 15:45 - 16:00

16:00-17:00

EFFECTING CHANGE

Closing plenum

Location and Fees

The Summer School takes place in the beautiful Wivenhoe House Hotel at the University of Essex, Colchester Campus.

Location

Wivenhoe House, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex, CO4 3FA

ACCOMMODATION

Accommodation needs to be booked extra. There are various local possibilities i nearby Wivenhoe or Colchester. Directly on campus, there are two options.

a) WIVENHOE HOUSE HOTEL: 4-star hotel and also our summer school venue. You can book rooms either directly by contacting reservations@wivenhoehouse.co.uk or by finding the best available rates on different platforms.

b) ESSEX UNIVERSITY ACCOMMODATION: ensuite single rooms with a shared kitchen: £45 per night without breakfast; £51 with breakfast. To book please visit this page and enter one of the following promo codes:
CICSIRO (for room only=£45 per night)
CICSIBB (for bed and breakfast=£51 per night)

If you wish to book over the phone, you can call 01206 872358. The office opening times are Monday-Thursday (9am-5:15pm) and Friday (9am-4:30pm).

Please note that this booking is non-refundable.

Fees

EARLY BIRD FEE (until 5th April) £360

STANDARD FEE (from 6th April) £440

The fee includes:

two days of presentations, exercises, and case study discussions with world-leading experts
course material
daily lunches and refreshments
1 evening meal
a certificate of completion

To take advantage of our Early Bird Discount, please complete your application and submit payment by 5th April.

The delivery of this course is dependent on a minimum of 32 applicants. In the unlikely event that this minimum is not met, we would have to reconsider the feasibility of running this course.

Registration open for 2025

Info