Psychology on the fringe

I love going to conferences; they are a great opportunity to develop knowledge and skills, and to connect with other people who have shared interests.

However, they can also feel a bit like academics and clinicians, talking to other academics and clinicians, in a context rather removed from most of the people living the stuff we are talking about.

I was therefore really pleased when the Division of Clinical Psychology agreed to fund a 'Psychology Fringe Festival' – four nights of events exploring mental health through the arts – around the main conference, as well as a Saturday conference on 'Clinical Psychology beyond the therapy room'.

Tickets for the Saturday conference ranged in price from £10 to £20, while all the evening events were free.

Most importantly the Fringe Festival itself was open to the public and received good media coverage, with three radio interviews and one TV interview helping to ensure that the local community got to hear about it and were encouraged to attend.

Across the four nights of the festival we had 8 venues, over 20 acts, and around 400 people attending, and, with only about 10 of us actually responsible for organising things, it really was a team effort, with lots of running about between locations and liaising with performers.

It was hard and exhausting work, with unorthodox solutions to unexpected situations often needing to be found at short notice, but in the end we really did have something for everyone, with everything from knitting to rap!

Friday night at The Brink was a particular highlight for me.

• The night began with DanceSyndrome putting on a performance, before getting us all involved in some mass participation.
• After this we had Jacq Applebee speaking and reciting self-authored poetry on being 'a minority, in a minority, in a minority'. Jacq identifies as non-binary, bisexual, black, disabled, and has struggled with mental health difficulties and has also had periods of homelessness, abuse and trauma. To be able to put all these experiences together in a poetic form that engages and connects us through words, humour, and art, is truly incredible.
• After Jacq came Clare Shaw, another poet with experience of mental health difficulties and abuse. Clare's work includes poems relating to being sectioned, self-harm, as well as providing powerful social commentaries.
• In what was a varied and inspiring evening, we had a closing set from Paul Hitchmough, a musician whose most recent work has been inspired by his own experience of Alzheimer's Disease.

Perhaps the most powerful moment for me, however, was when I was heading out of one venue to go to another.

Two men were in front of me and, as they were getting into their car, I heard one say "You know, I've got anxiety and have been diagnosed with severe depression".

The other replied "Mate, I've known you for 12 years and you've never told me that…"

This is why events such as the Fringe are important; they make new spaces for conversations about psychological wellbeing, conversations which help us break down taboos and stigma, build community engagement, and ultimately increase people's opportunity to get psychological support.

We will be adding some pictures and videos to psychologyfringe.com soon, so please do check out the website as we update it.

About the author

Dr Stephen Weatherhead is a chartered clinical psychologist specialising in brain injury and family work.

After qualifying from the Lancaster DClinPsy course in 2008 he went on to work in NHS brain injury services, and now works clinically in private practice, specialising in brain injury, with a focus on family interventions and assessments of mental capacity.