Will Hall

Will Hall is a mental health advocate, counsellor, writer, and teacher. Will advocates the recovery approach to mental illness and is recognised internationally as an innovator in the treatment and social response to psychosis.

In 2001, he co-founded the Freedom Center and from 2004-2009 was a co-coordinator for The Icarus Project. He has consulted for Mental Disability Rights International, the Family Outreach and Response Program,  and the Office on Violence Against Women, and in 2012 presented to the American Psychiatric Association‘s Institute on Psychiatric Services.

Will is the author of the Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Medications has been widely praised, and his latest book  Outside Mental Health: Voices and Visions of Madness, released in 2016 has interviews with more than 60 psychiatric patients, scientists, journalists, doctors, activists, and artists. Outside Mental Health invites us to rethink what we know about bipolar, psychosis, schizophrenia, depression, medications, and mental illness in society.

Will also hosts Madness Radio which broadcasts on FM and is also available as a podcast.

Will holds a Diploma and Masters Degree in Process Work from the Process Work Institute, and has trained with Jaakko Seikkula and colleagues in Open Dialogue at the Institute for Dialogic Practice, the WRAP facilitators’ training, and certification in NADA protocol auricular acupuncture at Lincoln Recovery in New York City. He is currently a PhD candidate at Maastricht University Medical Center – School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, supervised by Dr. Jim van Os. Will’s work as a therapist and group facilitator has focused especially on trauma, oppression, and working with extreme states of consciousness that get diagnosed as psychosis; his PhD research is focusing on psychiatric medications and alternatives.

Will also has an extensive background in community organising and organisational development, and understands “mental health” primarily as a community and social issue.