AD4E is coming to Manchester.

We are delighted to be supported by Manchester Rape Crisis

Contributors include Dr Lucy Johnstone, Jacqui Dillon, Dr Gary Sidley, Jo Watson & Nollaig McSweeney

About the day

The event features not just professionals but people from a diverse range of backgrounds who have an essential contribution to make to the debate.
Lucy Johnstone presents the current debates and controversies about psychiatric diagnosis. It is increasingly acknowledged, even within the mental health establishment, that categories like 'schizophrenia', 'bipolar disorder' and 'personality disorder' lack validity. The assumption that distress is best understood as disease can have very serious consequences for the individual, their identity, and their path to recovery. Lucy will present alternatives to diagnosis which can help people to make sense of experiences of distress, however extreme, and which are based on working together to explore personal meaning.

Jacqui Dillon's talk 'Rasing our Voices' will also take place in the morning session. 

Gary Sidley, Lucy Johnstone and Jacqui Dillon will all be offering workshops in the afternoon

Who Attends?

This day is for anyone who is interested in and concerned about the current debates in 'mental health.' It provides a space to explore the critical questions of the day around the biomedical model and the narrative of 'diagnosis and disorder!'
Attendees from past AD4E events have included people who identify as the following :-
people with lived experience of emotional distress, supporters of people with lived experience, survivors, psychologists, journalists, activists, counsellors, service users, service refusers, psychotherapists, mental health support professionals, psychiatrists, managers and individuals with a general personal interest.