Making New Maps – October 2024

Making New Maps was a three day gathering continuing our exploration of alternative approaches for living and working with mental distress.

Inspired by intentional and therapeutic communities, our aim was to the bridge the gap between the ambitions of mental health policy and practice on the ground.

The thread that runs throughout our series of Compassionate Mental Health Gatherings has been building community together – moving beyond Us and Them, the Fixers and those that need Fixing.

Our aim is to build bridges between those that use services and those that deliver and design them, and the family and social network around a person experiencing distress, so everyone can thrive.

The programme built on our core themes of connection, community and systems change, with a focus on reflective, relational, compassionate practice, and creating therapeutic environments.

Together we explored new ways of thinking about service provision, and approaches that are based on mutual support, safety and democratic principles.

As always, moving away from professional, personal and illness labels so we can build common ground and imagine together safe, healing services that people want to use when they are in crisis.