Social Perspectives in Mental Health: Developing Social Models to Understand and Work with Mental Distress

Peter Beresford is Professor of Social Policy and Director of the Centre for Citizen Participation at Brunel University. He is Chair of Shaping Our Lives, the national independent user-controlled organisation, Visiting Fellow of the School of Social Work and Psychosocial Science at the University of East Anglia and a long-term user of mental health services.

Sarah Carr is a research analyst at the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), leading some of the organisation's user participation projects. She previously worked as a Research and Information Officer at the National Institute for Social Work (NISW). She was involved with developing the National Electronic Library for Mental Health and was a researcher for a Department of Health commissioned literature review on social work assessment for older people with mental health problems. Sarah has also worked for Oxleas NHS Trust and at the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health where she researched and co-edited a practice manual on developing assertive outreach and home treatment services. Alongside her professional interest lies Sarah's personal interest in social perspectives, as she is a mental health service user herself. She is now a trustee of PACE, a London-wide organisation which responds to the emotional, mental and physical health needs of lesbians and gay men in the Greater London Area.

Duncan Double is a consultant psychiatrist and Honorary Senior Lecturer, Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust and University of East Anglia. He is the website editor of the Critical Psychiatry Network (www.criticalpsychiatry.co.uk).

Peter Ferns is an independent training consultant with a wide experience of working in public and not-for-profit organisations. He also undertakes leadership training and teamworking in the commercial sector. He has been involved in the participatory development of community-based services and is committed to the creation of anti-discriminatory and holistic mental health services. He has co-authored 'Letting Through Light' a training package for practitioners on race and culture in mental health. Peter has a particular interest in mental health, learning disabilities, advocacy, equality issues, social work education and service quality issues. He can be contacted at ferns@dsl.pipex.com.

Sally Plumb worked as a mental health social worker and approved social worker (ASW) for 12 years in a multi-cultural, inner-city area of Birmingham. For ten years of this time she facilitated a self-help group for women who had been sexually abused. From 2001 until July 2004 she was the Mental Health (ASW) Training Officer for Birmingham Social Care and Health Directorate, designing and managing the delivery of two ASW training programmes. She is now an independent trainer, specialising in mental health law and practice, in particular

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