Go Together – June 2023

Go Together was a three day gathering continuing our exploration of alternative approaches for living and working with mental distress.

This was our first Compassionate Mental Health Gathering in North Wales, and we were delighted to be at the beautiful Trevor Hall near Llangollen for an experiential learning retreat, designed to help you experience new ways of thinking and being together.

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

Go Together wasinspired by the African concept of Ubuntu – an ancient African word meaning ‘humanity to others’. It is often described as reminding us that ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’.

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.

In a world that feels more polarised than ever, how can we build bridges between those that use services and those that deliver them, and the family and social network around a person experiencing distress , so everyone can thrive.

The programme built on 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.

This time we were fortunate to be welcoming two leading neurofeedback practitioners and researchers.

Sebern Fisher and Mirjana Askovic introduced new research that shows how we can train our brains using neurofeedback to help quiet fear and regulate our feelings and reactions.

The focus as was on 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.