When does mental health care cross the line from treatment into coercion, and can practices intended to help people experiencing distress actually cause harm?
These are some of the questions that will be explored during this year’s Critical Voices Network Ireland annual conference, taking place at University College Cork on 12–13 November.
Bringing together researchers, activists and people with lived experience for two days of presentations, discussions and workshops at University College Cork’s Brookfield Health Sciences Complex, the conference Finding Our Own Solutions: Critical Perspectives and Responses to Human Distress, will explore solutions for mental health difficulties outside the medical model of mental health treatment.
A central theme of the conference is the need to question assumptions about mental health care and explore responses that prioritise dignity, autonomy and meaningful choice rather than the monopoly that psychiatric treatment currently holds over the sector.
Lydia Sapouna, co-founder of the conference, lecturer at UCC and whose research interests focus on the areas of critical mental health and lived experience of mental health systems and service user/ survivor knowledge, said: “The reason we have chosen the theme of finding our solutions for this year’s conference reflects a recognition that responses to human distress can only be meaningful when grounded in people’s own experiences, knowledge, meanings, relationships, strengths and sources of support”.
Harry Gijbels, retired from School of Nursing and Midwifery UCC and co-founder of the conference said: “This is our 18th Annual CVNI conference and, sadly, we are still hearing the same stories of coercion, abuse, lack of choice, iatrogenic harm, not being listened to, overmedication. This conference is yet another opportunity to consider the many creative and innovative approaches to support people in distress”.
Conference details:
The conference will feature six keynote presentations across the two days, addressing coercion, the Hearing Voices Movement, Open Dialogue, peer support, relationships and trauma-informed care.
- Lisa Archibald, Scottish activist and co-owner of Intentional Peer Support, will deliver Intentional Peer Support: From Individual Solutions to Collective Action, exploring how mutual support can move beyond individual approaches towards wider social change.
- Jennifer Hough, human rights researcher and editor of Mad in Ireland, will present Challenging Coercion: When Does Care Cross the Line?, examining the legal, institutional and less visible forms of coercion within mental health services.
- Kellie Stastny, Australian critical social worker and Chair of Intervoice, will deliver Hearing Voices Movement: Connection, Compassion and Curiosity, exploring approaches to voice-hearing grounded in understanding and human connection.
- Iseult Twamley, clinical psychologist and Open Dialogue trainer, will present Hearing and Being Heard – Dialogue as a Support to Mental Distress, examining the importance of dialogue and relationships in responding to psychological distress.
- Liam Mac Gabhann, mental health and trauma practitioner, community activist and participatory researcher, will deliver Mirror Mirror on the Wall: Trauma Informed Care and the Myth of Pandora’s Box, offering a critical perspective on trauma-informed approaches.
- Maura O’Donovan and Aidan O’Mahony, mental health practitioners and facilitators based in West Cork, will present Home Focus: Relationships, Power, Meaning and Choice, examining the importance of relationships, personal meaning and choice in supporting people experiencing distress.
Alongside the keynote presentations, the conference will feature a wide range of concurrent sessions examining the relationship between psychiatry, power, human rights and lived experience.
Among those speakers is Dr Charles O’Mahony, Associate Professor in Law at the University of Galway, who will present Pharmacological Restraint in Irish Mental Health Services: Regulation, Rights and Reform. His presentation will address an important and often overlooked dimension of coercion in mental health care: the use of medication as a means of restraint and the legal and human rights questions surrounding its regulation.
Programme Overview and Book of Abstracts at https://cvni.ie/2026-2/
Registration for in-person attendance: Email Harry Gijbels at [email protected] indicating which day you wish to attend: both days, or either Thursday 12 November or Friday 13 November. You’ll receive a return email confirmation. This is a free conference, but donations are welcome.