Rita Long
Rita is Chair of the Soteria Network UK, and is a Lived Experience facilitator and Researcher
Areas of interest
- Soteria Houses
- Reimagining Mental Health care
- Recovery-focused therapy
I’ve been a member of the Compassionate Mental health Community for some years and delighted to come along and share some exciting news.
First a little about me that’s relevant to the conversation I’ll be leading at the gathering.
As a result of taking anti-depressants in my 30s, I was admitted to a psychiatric hospital and given a diagnosis of bipolar disorder 2. This started my journey/passion to understanding why people experience altered mood states and how we can best support people to work through these with the best possible outcomes. No mean feat eyyy.
On this journey I came across The Soteria Network UK, a community of people wanting to see minimum medication, non-coercive therapeutic environments for people who experience extreme mood states.
Soteria Network – Humane, non-coercive mental health services
In June this year Soteria Network UK in partnership with Complex Trauma Research Unit in Manchester were a rewarded a research grant to Explore alternatives to psychiatric Hospital Admission for people with psychosis and bipolar disorder using the Soteria Approach.
This is an enormous leap forward for those of us wanting alternative approaches to mainstream psychiatric care.
I look forward to discussing this further.
