Eminent UK academic, Professor Nikolas Rose, is to give a talk on May 15, jointly sponsored by the Institute of Mental Health, on "What is 'mental illness' today?"

Rose, who is Professor of Sociology and Head of the Department of Social Science, Health and Medicine at King's College, London, will ask 'five hard questions' about this topic at the talk taking place in room B63, Law and Social Sciences Building at the University of Nottingham. Questions to be posed to the audience are:

• Is there an 'epidemic' of mental disorder?
• Does the path to understanding mental disorder lie through the brain?
• What is the role of diagnosis and of diagnostic manuals?
• Should we seek early identification of those at risk of future mental pathology?
• What is the place of patients, users, survivors, consumers in the mental health system?

The talk begins at 4.30pm – this is after car parking on the main campus becomes unrestricted. Refreshments will be served afterwards. See talk abstract and Professor Rose biography.

Event poster

A new series of Contemporary Neurobiology and Psychotherapy seminars has been planned for 2012-13. The seminars will take place at the Institute of Mental Health on the following dates:

• Wednesday 15 May 2013; 5.30pm-7pm
• Wednesday 12 June 2013; 5.30pm-7pm
• Wednesday 10 July 2013; 7.30pm-7pm

The series will be facilitated by Margaret Wilkinson, Jungian Analyst, who will introduce a selection of research papers and books concerning the neurobiology of emotion, attachment and trauma (see flyer for further information).

There are 15 places available and a commitment to all the seminars is desirable and a certificate of attendance will be provided for CPD purposes. The fee of £90 per person includes all seminars and refreshments.

If you would like to register for these seminars, please complete the registration form and return it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A two-day interactive skills based workshop delivered jointly by Self Help Nottingham and the Institute of Mental Health. This practical workshop is targeted at all health and social care workers, criminal justice personnel, third sector agencies and key members of patient support groups.

Dates: Thursday 16 May and Friday 17 May

Venue: IMH building, Jubilee Campus, University of Nottingham

Cost: £150 (or £20 for unwaged). Unwaged places are restricted and are available on a first come, first served basis.

Registration forms490.5 KB are available from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and must be returned by May 8. Car parking is available on pay and display basis. Lunch will not be provided at this workshop.

Further information on the event flyer158.08 KB.

A monthly seminar series running at the Institute of Mental Health building. Format: Presentation and questions.

May event: Working with Personality Disordered Offenders: NHS and NOMS joint working experiences
Speaker: Dr Melanie Jordan, Institute of Mental Health
Date: Thursday 30 May 12.00 pm

June event: Neuropsychological deficits in offenders with antisocial personality disorder and their relationship to treatment progress
Speaker: Michael Baliousis, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
Date: Thursday 27 June 12.00 pm

July event: Implementation and Evaluation of the violence reduction programme within a high secure custodial setting
Speaker: Hazel Dobson, HMP Whitemoor
Date: Thursday 25 July 12.00 pm

Venue for all events:  Room A06 of the Institute of Mental Health

Cost: Free of charge. No need to register – just come along (you are welcome to bring along your lunch)

Details and dates of events

A two-day Violence Risk Scale (VRS) training workshop is being held at the Institute of Mental Health on June 6 and 7. The workshop, organised by the Institute and Psynergy Consulting, is aimed at forensic and mental health professionals and researchers, forensic treatment and programme delivery staff, and prison and criminal justice workers. VRS is a theory-based approach which includes assessing an individual's risk and evaluating their treatment readiness and treatment change.

Workshop delegates should have some background knowledge regarding general risk assessment and prediction issues. Presenters are Audrey Gordon, a registered psychologist and a professional affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, and Stephen Wong, honorary professor at the Institute of Mental Health and the School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, and adjunct professor, department of psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Contact Jun Xia at the Institute of Mental Health for more information on 0115 823 1289 and email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Event flyer

Registration form

Inside Out of Mind is an innovative project which has brought together ethnographic researchers with theatre practitioners to tackle the challenge of dementia care.

The resulting play brilliantly illustrates the multiple realities of life on a dementia ward, and is a unique collaboration between Meeting Ground Theatre Company, Lakeside Arts Centre, the Institute of Mental Health and the NHS.

The play is based on extensive and rigorous participant observation in dementia wards by researchers Simon Bailey, Kezia Scales and Joanne Lloyd, and has taken three years to evolve into a theatre production from the original research. Inside Out of Mind is a powerful illustration of life on a dementia ward from the perspective of the patients, the staff and visitors, and aims to impact positively on the care of those with dementia, and to encourage empathy and intuitive listening.

Public performances of Inside Out of Mind will be held at the Lakeside Arts Centre on the 14, 15, 22, 28 and 29 June at 7.30pm, with 2pm matinee performances on 22 and 29 June. NHS performances and conference dates are scheduled for 17-20 and 24-27 June and are bookable through local contacts.

Publicity flyer

See the video trailer

Book tickets

This course will appeal to all those interested in completing a Cochrane-style review. Experienced tutors and facilitators will be available to give you practical and individual advice. After attending the course, participants should be able to understand search strategies, extract data, manage the results of systematic searches, understand the syntheses of the data, apply the methods and conduct reviews independently.

Dates: Tuesday 2 to Friday 5 July 2013
Venue: University of Nottingham
Course fee: £699. All learning materials, lunch, refreshments and the evening meal on the Thursday are all included.
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Further information from the Cochrane Group website.

The Institute's teaching team has teamed up with Asylum Associates and the Hearing Voices Network to put on a series of three-day assessment skills based workshops on Making Sense of Voices – Maastricht Interview Training. The Maastricht interview is a semi-structured questionnaire that is used in therapy with voice hearers. This workshop explains more about the technique and encourages delegates to undertake two interviews with voice hearers from the Hearing Voices Network.

The workshops are being held at:

The Crown Hotel, Harrogate, on July 3-5, 2013
The Institute of Mental Health, Nottingham, on September 17-19, 2013
Wirral Mind, Birkenhead, on October 15-17.

Contact for further information and to book places: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Event flyer

Booking form

A new Trent Study Day is being held on Friday 12 July on the subject of Interventions for Sexual Offending. The day has been put together by the Institute and Nottinghamshire Healthcare and is being held at the Mike Harris Learning and Development Centre at Rampton Hospital.

Speakers include Prof Klaus Beier of Charite University Berlin, Prof Conor Duggan, Emeritus Professor at the University of Nottingham, Adam Carter of the National Offender Management Service, and Dr Adarsh Kaul of Nottinghamshire Healthcare.

Further information from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Event flyer

The Institute is staging a new two-day skills based workshop on Normalising the Experience of Voices, Visions and Paranoia, delivered in partnership again with Paranoia Network UK and the Hearing Voices Network. The workshop takes place in Liverpool on September 5 and 6 and is targeted at all mental health workers, criminal justice personnel, third sector agencies and people who experience voices, visions and paranoia.

Venue: Quaker House, 22 School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BT
Dates: September 5 and 6, 2013
Contact for further information and to book places: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Event flyer

Booking form

The Mind Brain Development (MBD) group of the Institute of Mental Health would like to extend an invitation to anyone interested in neuroimaging techniques and behavioural paradigms to join them at their monthly meetings. MBD meets on the second Tuesday of every month. The meeting will start with a seminar at 1pm, usually given by a guest speaker and followed at 2 pm by a discussion accompanied by tea and biscuits. (Please bring lunch). The seminar and discussion will be followed by a journal club at 2.30pm

The journal club will be followed by a meeting of the committee that deals with the administration of the Mind, Brain Development Labs on A floor at the Institute. The labs have facilities for EEG, TMS, eye-movement tracking, and cognitive testing. Regular users of these facilities are welcome to attend the committee meeting. If you wish to apply to use these facilities, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

These events are held at the Institute of Mental Health Building, University of Nottingham Innovation Park, Triumph Rd, Nottingham, NG7 2TU.

The presenters' slides from this December 2012 meeting are available on the main Institute of Mental Health website. If you enjoyed the day, please note that the Trent Study Day occurs twice a year, in June (at Rampton Hospital) and December (in Nottingham), usually about a topic relevant to forensic practitioners.

Please either contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  to be put on a mailing list for future meetings or revisit the site.