Growing Better Lives has a thriving research programme and is linked to the Centre for Social Future, a research division of the Institute of Mental Health based at the University of Nottingham. Growing Better Lives is one of the integrated research groups within the Social Futures programme. Click here for more details. Our group presented at the launch of the Centre for Social Futures and you can find our presentation here . Historically mental health has focussed on individual minds and one to one encounters. And yet mental distress is always expressed interpersonally and socially, as well as within the individual. This research programme will bring together research in areas such as recovery, arts and humanities, and various other social and cultural perspectives.
Our Research:
Recent research carried out by our team includes
- Planticons: the Greencare Way of Measuring how we feel – a measure developed with Greencare service users
- Choice and Engagement Research – a study carried out to examine a novel process for engaging services users diagnosed with personality disorder with therapeutic services
- Green Therapies for Personality Disorder : Research and Evaluation – a preliminary project which aimed to gather information to describe and explore the various aspects of Greencare in order to evaluate the current services and provide a basis for future research questions.
Members of the team have been conducting research in the field of complex needs and personality disorder for many years. Recent publications include two papers by Rex Haigh, both of which won awards from the publisher, Emerald
Click to download Rex Haigh’s “The quintessence of a therapeutic environment” paper Click to download Rex Haigh’s “The philosophy of Greencare” paper
BIGSPD The British and Irish Group for the study of Personality Disorders (BIGSPD) was formed in 2000 to provide a forum for a focus for academic activity and professional networking in the field of personality disorder. Click here for more information about BIGSPD
For more information about our research programme please contact Vanessa Jones vanessa.jones7@nhs.net +44 (0)7899 793461