Hello Carers. There is a new research opportunity for carers of those using mental health services. The project is being carried out by Lewys Beames, PhD Student from Kings College London. Lewys will also be attending my ethnic mental health carers forum, which is many of the groups I run voluntary to give carers a platform for engagement and updates.

The project focuses on people who access mental health services will receive care and treatment for a time in a hospital ward or inpatient setting. In these settings service users are sometimes subject to practices which may be experienced as forceful or restrictive, such as physical restraint (being physical held by trained mental health staff) or being forced to take medication. These types of practices are commonly and collectively referred to as coercive practices.

We know that service users and carers can find experience of coercive practices distressing.

The purpose of this project is to ask about and understand the views of mental health services users, informal carers and inpatient mental health staff on coercive practices and ideas of how to improve experiences for service users and informal carers where coercive practice has occurred during a psychiatric inpatient admission.

As informal or unpaid carers, this is your chance to give feedback.

For more information, you can contact

Lewys Beames, PhD Student
Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience,
King’s College London
Email: lewys.beames@kcl.ac.uk
Telephone: 07876875892