The ISPS UK annual conference 2025, held in Manchester in May, invited delegates to consider the theme “Beyond Them And Us: Finding Common Ground” and to participate in a trialogue session hosted by Dr Liam MacGabhann. Brief introductory talks by ISPS UK trustees offered context from each of the three perspectives of ISPS UK members: mental health worker, family/carer, and lived experience.
Reflections from Jessica Pons
After some reflection, where have I landed on with ‘Beyond Them and Us’? I loved reconnecting with people from various mental health activist spaces and meeting new allies. Following some time away from this type of work, being able to contribute gave me a real sense of belonging. Unfortunately though, when I think about the aims of the day – for a trialogue to explore lived experience, professional and carer perspectives, and how we can work together for change – I feel like we made a start but fell short.
We opened the day with speakers from each group, but harm from carceral systems and coercive care on those with lived experience took most space throughout. It feels wrong to say this, as it’s this voice that we often need to prioritise, but the space had the intention of hearing equally from all groups. Alongside this, I’ve been thinking about why events like this are overwhelmingly white, and therefore unrepresentative.
Part of where I’ve landed is how different ways of being active should be made explicit. For some it’s not safe to ‘shout from the rooftops’, which I would say is the way we generally perceive activists to behave. In the final session, I touched on the Social Change Ecosystem Map developed by Deepa Iyer. I think this could be relevant to both questions – how we come together with different perspectives and how we hear from racialised groups. We need to welcome a polyphony, contained by the shared values of needing change.
Secondly, to allow for staff and family to speak up when faced with the real harm of carceral systems that they are implicated in, we need to do more groundwork. Dedicated spaces like our reflective staff sessions or journalling groups for family and friends could help build confidence to speak up in such spaces, before coming together collectively in trialogue again.
Finally we need more time, perhaps a longer introduction to the values of this method, with opportunity to practice methods prior to coming together. Ultimately we need more opportunity for trialogue, which is something we are hoping to facilitate here at ISPS UK.