Psychiatry, to me, is about creating safe spaces where hope takes root—honouring resilience, guiding healing, and walking with patients as they rediscover their strength and light. #Psychiatry #HopeInHealing #Resilience

“Most mental disorders occur in individuals without affected close relatives, thus highlighting the need for prevention strategies which target the entire population”. New study. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Latest NHS England 10-year long term plan: Fit For The Future • From hospitals → homes • Analogue → digital “doctor-in-your-pocket” • Sickness → prevention • Empowering staff & communities #NHSLongTermPlan #Prevention #DigitalHealth #CommunityCare #NHSE Big question- can and how they pull it off ??

“A yellow rose is a symbol of joy A gift to a friend that nothing can destroy.” — Patricia Grantham #friendship #warmth #remembrance.

Westerners have long shunned obese people, and this attitude now pervades much of the globe. Was this always the case? www.sapiens.org/archaeology/...

Final day at #RCPSYCH25, highlight for me : Staying Safe from Suicide:New NHSE guidance shifts focus from risk to safety:relational, dynamic, holistic.From checklists to safety formulation & management.From predicting risk to therapeutic assessment -we need this culture shift now! #RCPSYCHIC #safety

#RCPSych2025 Day 3 starts with a wake up call! Loneliness = smoking 15 cigs/day for health 🚬💔. 1 in 5 feel it—worse for young, SMI, & marginalised. 🔥 Raises depression, self-harm & early death risk. But hope: CBT, volunteering, tackling avoidance can heal. #RCPsych2025 #VivekMurthy#loneliness 🌍🤝

Day 2 at #RCPsych2025 began mindfully—connecting senses & movement to nurture calm & emotional regulation. Grateful for this experiential session, aligning with #NICEguidelines, to thrive in healthcare’s challenges. #Psychiatry #Wellbeing #Mindfulness #Gratitude

@rcpsych.bsky.social Excited to be at #RCPsych2025 Annual Congress — a vibrant space where psychiatry, innovation & lived experience converge. Looking forward to inspiring talks & meaningful conversations. Let’s connect! 🧠🌍 #MentalHealth #RCPsychCongress #PsychiatryMatters #LivingMind

🧠Executive Function: The Missing Link to Thriving with ADHD (and Finally Getting Things Done) 🧩 open.substack.com/pub/adhdwisd... #adhd #adhdsky #adhdawareness

ADHD executive dysfunction is real but improvable! Research (Barkley, 2022) shows meds + strategies significantly help. Not laziness, not your fault, your brain just works differently. Hope exists! #ADHD #ExecutiveFunction #Neurodiversity

Happy Father’s Day 💙 The first male figure in our psychic world—both loved and feared. Freud saw him as the Oedipal rival; Klein, as part of our inner world, split between idealisation and frustration. Our fathers shape more than memory—they shape the self. #Father’sday #freud #klien #oedipalcomplex

New suicide prevention guidance in England BMJ 2025; 389 doi: doi.org/10.1136/bmj.... (Published 05 June 2025) Move to focus on safety rather than risk in assessment, formulation and management and also the recommendation not to use risk prevention tools. #suicideprevention #safety #culturalshift

Genome-wide analyses identify 30 loci associated with obsessive–compulsive disorder www.nature.com/articles/s41...

“If we set the standard as total prevention, we risk creating environments governed by fear, not care” We are already there. www.bmj.com/content/382/...

Practising gratitude isn’t just feel-good—it’s science-backed self-care. It boosts mood, lowers stress, improves sleep, and even supports heart health. A few mindful moments each day can shift everything. 🌿 #Gratitude #Wellbeing #MindBodyConnection #HealingHabits #livingmind #makinglivesmeaningful

Day Two #BIGSPD25 highlight reel ⬇️ www.instagram.com/reel/DKzoN9w...

@garylamph.bsky.social and @fik-t.bsky.social are closing #BIGSPD25 - their first as new presidents - and what an excellent job they've done! Can't believe its over already-some amazing topics this year, love seeing and hearing about all the amazing work going on in the BIGSPD community and beyond

The winner this year is someone who has reported from not just one, but two Bluesky accounts, and done so with great care and attention. She has summarised many of the key points from talks and discussions, and always brought a compassionate set of elves ears to what she's heard #BIGSPD25

Inspiring days at #BIGSPD25 💡 Key takeaways: epistemic trust, mentalisation, early intervention, co-production with lived experience, adapting DBT, and urgent need for accessible, quality care. Grateful for rich learning & networking with passionate colleagues! #beyondtheroom

Brin shares that improvements didn’t just lie in patients but also in staff in terms of their clinical competence and confidence #BIGSPD25

Morning all and welcome to our final keynote talk of #BIGSPD25, which will be given by Prof Brin Grenyer. Overview and learnings from implementing whole of service stepped care approaches to treating personality disorders. He's joining us via Zoom from Australia. 🧵 THREAD

One of the questions from the floor asks about the difference between these clinics and crisis teams/HTT. Brin makes it clear that these are therapeutic sessions that are clearly defined as being for the person - the protection of the space to think with the person is imperative. #BIGSPD25

Day 3 and the final day of #BIGSPD25! An amazing line-up of talks ahead — follow along here for live updates from #beyondtheroom

If we consider what’s missing then what’s the synthesis? #BIGSPD25

Excellent session the ideas pitches were brilliant, practice, research, creative innovations and system change making all discussed and debated drawing upon expertise of the room and our #BIGSPD25 panel. Hoping those who pitch let us know of any future developments. 👍🏻

Plenary close at #BIGSPD25 day2 with Jenifer Dylan: “Redefining Expertise” 💬 Time to value experiential wisdom alongside academic routes. Grateful for this powerful reminder: ‘not everything that can be counted counts, not everything that counts can be counted.’ #LivedExperience #DBT #CoProduction

"The integration of lived experience into professional roles is not a compromise - it's an (r)evolution." Thank you Jen for a fabulous #BIGSPD25 keynote. You're paving the way for many many other people in the room here @bigspd.bsky.social in Liverpool. 👏🏽

📍Prof Michaela Swales on “DBT – 30 Years In: Where Are We Now and what’s next ? 💬 DBT remains one of the most effective treatments for BPD—now evolving to address neurodivergence & PTSD. 🔍 Advances in understanding mechanisms = sharper, more targeted care. #BIGSPD25 #DBT #BPD #Neurodivergence #PTSD

Day 2 #BIGSPD25 Why is autism under-recognised in women/AFAB? ➤ Overlap with PDs ➤ 20% Dx with PD, 26% BPD ➤ Barriers: relational challenges, masking, need for sameness Autism isn’t one shape—it’s a dimension with depth. #Autism #Neurodiversity #PersonalityDisorder #MentalHealth

Really relating to the ethical dilemmas of containing risk vs tolerating risk - having spent the recent past stuck on a hospital ward with a lot of clinician anxiety around risk leading to restrictive practices that removed my coping mechanisms (e.g running) and actually increased risk #BIGSPD25

Our BIGSPD oven was a success! Research ideas, accommodation ideas, PhD support and service ideas all with connections made and thoughts for next year! #BIGSPD25

🧠 Poster sessions at #BIGSPD25 offered serious food for thought: – EMDR for EUPD? – What happens after DBT? – Co-production in PD care – Lived experience shaping services – DBT graduate groups reducing crisis relapse Great initiatives and innovations! #DBT #PersonalityDisorder #CoProduction

Read Mick McKeown's paper on the bullshitisation of mental health nursing #BIGSPD25 Thanks for sharing @mickmckeown24.bsky.social

It’s been a busy morning with talks on of Epistemic trust, a debate, meaningful brief psychological interventions, co-creating relational learning environment principles, to name but a few! Excited to hear the pitches this afternoon at the BIGSPD oven! #BIGSPD25

Debate at #BIGSPD25: Is private inpatient care for EUPD a lifeline? 🆚 Critics: Not truly specialist, staff undertrained, safety & NICE compliance questionable. ✅ Supporters: With NHS gaps, private care is often the only option. 💬 Core issue:lack of consistent, safe, specialist care across the system

✨ Brilliant Day 2 start at #BIGSPD25 Plenary by Prof Peter Fonagy: Epistemic Trust, Mentalising & Trauma 🧠 Trauma disrupts trust & mentalising—MBT helps rebuild it. From I-mode to We-mode: healing through shared understanding. #MBT #PTSD #PersonalityDisorder

@mickmckeown24.bsky.social We can’t build relationships by hiding in offices and behind screens. Data collection isn’t more important than relationships. Mick talks of how half of the work we do day to day actively gets in the way of relationships and causes alienation. #BIGSPD25

These were raised as a way to recognise that we can fall into things that stop us from listening or holding responsibility. Maxine shared Bion’s idea of ‘containers’ and what happens in the system to manage anxiety - including ‘making patients objects’ #BIGSPD25

Tomorrow at #BIGSPD25 we debate: Private inpatient services have been a life line for those the nhs don’t want to work with If you want places with an enthusiasm for prescribing against NICE guidelines, you have to go to the private “specialist” units www.emerald.com/insight/cont...

Just re-introducing myself here on Bluesky at the start of #BIGSPD25 I’m Ellie, lived experience research ambassador in the NHS and independent researcher and educator. Also love a bit of roller skating, cycling and triathlons 😄

Hey BIGSPDers!! I've created a #BIGSPD25 starter pack if you want to follow some of the people here in Liverpool go.bsky.app/GxyXyTX

The lovely Mick McKeown gave me a shout out earlier at #BIGSPD25, for some activism around mental health nursing. Learn more about it through 2 hours of me ranting. #MHDeservesBetter youtu.be/iBblQygAizs?...

Relational Practice Workshop at #BIGSPD25: Complex dynamics in therapeutic communities explored 👥 Reflection by expatients and nurse on group therapy: fear around confidentiality, shame, & power dynamics. ✨ Group therapy helped them open up, & build belonging—a lasting toolkit beyond discharge.

Maxine is presenting what she calls a 'good enough' model for Containing the Containers #BIGSPD25

First #BIGSPD25 speaker is a local Mental Health Nurse Academic - Prof Mick McKeown @mickmckeown24.bsky.social Professor of Democratic Mental Health at the University of Central Lancaster. Mick's talk is: Relational Practice: making hope possible rather than despair convincing. 🧵 THREAD

Now @hoppypelican.bsky.social and @thementalelf.bsky.social are talking about how to take the conference beyond the room. We are going to use the hashtag #bigspd25 so you can follow along but….get your ideas in here too. Ask us questions. Add your comments. 😊

Maxine is telling us about the Zulu word SAWUBONA, which means "I see you, I value you and you are important to me" #BIGSPD25

Race is a delusion, racism is an enactment of that delusion that upholds that delusion - a powerful message from Maxine Dennis #BIGSPD25

Second Keynote from Maxine Dennis,Consultant Psychologist and Psychoanalyst at #BIGSPD25: “Containing the Containers” Drawing on Winnicott’s impingement & the paranoid-schizoid position (Klein), to look deeper—into the pain, fear & defences of care systems & ourselves. Powerful, layered & needed.