Narratives of learning and teaching about mental health

Narrative inquiry is based on the premise that, as human beings, we come to understand and give meaning to our lives through stories.  As we share our stories with others, they may go on to incorporate our understandings into their own narratives.  There is a growing awareness of the importance of narrative in supporting students' learning about mental health.  It has a role to play in educators' learning too.

The Mental Health in Higher Education project aims to enhance learning and teaching about mental health through increasing networking and the sharing of approaches across the disciplines in UK higher education.  We are keen to explore how it is that students and educators develop their understanding about mental health, and the role that narrative can play in this. 

Educators (including service user and carer trainers) and learners (past and present) are invited to write narratives, taking one of the following topics as their primary focus:

• An experience that has shaped my understanding about mental health
• An experience that has shaped my teaching about mental health

These topics have been chosen so that the resulting narratives are of relevance both to both learners and to teachers.  The word limit is 1000 word (approx) - intended as a guide rather than a rigid constraint upon your writing.

The experiences chosen may arise out of a formal or informal learning situation.   Examples might include (but are not restricted to) learning arising from:

• a presentation, lecture, or other classroom-based activity - as educator or student
• a practice placement - as practice educator or student
• a personal experience of mental ill-health, or of caring for a person suffering from mental ill-health
• a personal experience which enhanced one's sense of mental wellbeing
• a publication (eg book or article), artefact (eg painting) or performance (eg play or DVD).

Writers are asked to reflect on:

• how their understanding of mental health was shaped or transformed, and any impact on their future practice
• the implications of their story for how mental health is taught.

Given the focus of mhhe, we are particularly interested in this latter point.  Please ensure that you achieve a balance in your piece between the telling of your story and the drawing out of implications for educators.

Please note: We are interested here in how learning in the broad area of mental health is best supported (this encompasses understanding of mental wellbeing as well as ill-health).

We plan to publish some of these accounts in an edited collection - to appear in hard copy and online.  A £15 book token will be provided for every contribution published in either format.

Please submit your account by Monday 12 October 2009.  to k.hughes@lancaster.ac.uk using the cover sheet below.                         

• Call for submissions
• Cover sheet

Do contact us with any queries.