Global Mental Health seminar, University of Leicester

This free online seminar is part of an annual seminar series on ‘global mental health’, hosted by the University of Leicester’s Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. This year’s seminar will focus on the topic of planetary health and will be concerned with learning from colleagues across the globe about how psychologists and allied health professionals are engaging with the climate and ecological emergencies.

Professor Mark Williams, a well-published environmental scientist at the University of Leicester will begin the event by giving a brief overview of the urgency of our time. We will then hear about the work psychologists and allied health professionals have been engaging with to support public health in Barbados, the Philippines and South Africa. Panel members will represent views from clinical psychologists working in Cuba, Ethiopia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Breakout rooms will be utilised to support shared learning between students and professionals from different parts of the globe. To book a place, please register on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/global-mental-health-seminar-tickets-358517955857.

We are hoping to record the event, but cannot guarantee this will work or will be publicly released. Places are limited, so please let us know if you book a place and can no longer attend. Places are limited, so please let us know if you book a place and can no longer attend.

Speaker bios

• Dr Garret Barnwell is a clinical psychologist and community psychology practitioner. He is also a URC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. His practice and current research focus on theorising and documenting the psychological dimensions of epistemic violence in relation to land, climate and environmental (in)justices. Barnwell was also an expert on the landmark youth-led #cancelcoal case climate case launched against the South African government’s plans for new coal-fired power.
• Mike Campbell (BA-New College of Florida, MS-Florida State University, PhD-University of Florida) is Senior Lecturer in Behavioural Science/Psychology with the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of the West Indies—Cave Hill, where he teaches in undergraduate and postgraduate clinical psychiatry. Mike has collaborated with colleagues across disciplines on over thirty publications in the areas of psychological measurement, health psychology, and bioethics. He has provided disaster and crisis mental health support for first responders, military, and communities in Florida, Barbados, and the Southern Caribbean for over 20 years. He is past president of the Barbados Society of Psychology, a fellow of the American Psychological Association, and an associate fellow of the British Society of Psychology.
• Dr. Ken Critchfield (Ph.D., 2002, University of Utah) is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association’s Society for Advancement of Psychotherapy (Div. 29). He is a tenured Associate Professor and Program Director of the Clinical Psychology Program of the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. Dr. Critchfield’s research, teaching and clinical work all emphasize interpersonal and attachment-based principles of change implemented in Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy (IRT: Benjamin, 2003; 2018). IRT is an integrative, psychosocial treatment that uses an attachment-based case formulation to tailor treatment for patients having severe and chronic problems characterized comorbid depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, and/or chronic suicidality, often accompanied by personality disorder. Dr. Critchfield is using interpersonal principles of change as as part of the international and interdisciplinary Cultivating the Globally Sustainable Self Initiative (summitx.org).
• Natalie Greaves (MBBS-UWI, PhD-Warwick Medical School-University of Warwick) is a Qualitative researcher, and Lecturer in Public Health (including on Health and the Environment) at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus (Barbados). Natalie also coordinates the MPhil/PhD programme in Public Health and Epidemiology. Her research portfolio revolves around public health policy, particularly in the areas of cancer prevention control and palliative care. Natalie has brought her research expertise to the infectious disease and planetary health space, aiding in the exploration of resilience mechanisms amongst the peoples of small island/ big-ocean states.
• A J Sunglao - AJ is a mental health advocate, licensed psychologist, and consultant from the Philippines. His work as a psychologist and a consultant involves designing and implementing interventions within the healthcare, development, and advocacy sectors both locally and globally. His focus is on developing systems, policies, and interventions for more accessible mental health care in disadvantaged communities. He recently finished his master's degree in Global Mental Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and King's College London.
• Mark Williams is a Professor with the School of Geography, Geology and the Environment at the University of Leicester. Mark examines the evolution of life over geological timescales. Over three decades his research has taken him from the tropics to the polar regions, working across terrains as diverse as glaciers, deserts, jungles, and everything in between. His current focus is on studying patterns of human induced changes to life, such as the impacts of introduced species into ecosystems as far apart as San Francisco Bay and the English Midlands. These changes, and their palaeontological record, may be one of the defining characteristics of a new geological epoch known as the Anthropocene.

This is a free event, open to all. Held via MS Teams.

(The link will be provided to registered attendees, in the days before the event)

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Any email queries should be addressed to Carl Gudgeon at the University of Leicester - at cmg16@leicester.ac.uk - and NOT to Eventbrite itself.’