A free four week community Mad Studies course based at the Lothian Health Services Archives in the University of Edinburgh. The course is for people with lived experience of mental health issues.

PLEASE NOTE: this is a four day course running over four weeks. Starting on Thursday 28th August and then on the following Tuesdays 2nd, 9th and 16th September, 10am to 3pm. Please make sure you can attend all four days.

Four weeks of learning, discussion and community building.

Week 1: Introduction: What is Oor Mad History?

Week 2: The History of Confinement and Treatments

Week 3: Madness, Gender, Sexuality and Intersectionality

Week 4: Activism Then and Now

A certificate from CAPS will be available upon completion of the four weeks. Participating students will get a pass to access the University of Edinburgh Library, and will work with unique collections from the Lothian Health Services Archive.

For any questions, or if you wish to book by email, please contact azra@capsadvocacy.org.

Please note that after booking via Eventbrite, Azra will be in touch to ask you a little about yourself and your motivations for coming on the course.

CAPS Independent Advocacy is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation

Scottish Charity number: SC021772

See our event participant privacy notice: https://capsadvocacy.org/privacy-statement/event-participant-privacy-notice for details of how we handle your data.

Who are CAPS Independent Advocacy?

CAPS is an independent advocacy organisation. We provide collective and individual advocacy in Lothian. In collective advocacy, groups of people across Lothian with mental health issues come together to voice their experiences in order to bring about change for others or improvements in services.

You can find out more about us at: https://capsadvocacy.org/

Who are LHSA?

Lothian Health Services Archive is NHS Lothian's archive based in Heritage Collections, University of Edinburgh. They hold a vast collection of material about the rich history of health and healthcare in our region: they are the largest health archive in the UK. Their holdings about the history of mental healthcare are one of their strengths, reflecting both psychiatric institutions and service-user activism.

Learn more about the LHSA's collections and how to arrange a visit via: https://www.lhsa.lib.ed.ac.uk/

Content Warnings

Please be aware that this course centres on the the topic of both historical and contemporary aspects of mental health. Materials, talks, and discussions may include content and language that can be difficult and disturbing, such as:

Descriptions of mental illness.
Suicide and self harm
Drug misuse
Medicalisation, sectioning, and confinement

Where possible, there will be contextualising information and content warnings. Please feel free to approach a member of staff with any questions you might have.

Accessibility at the Lothian Health Services Archives:

Information about accessibility regarding the space can be found here: https://library.ed.ac.uk/heritage-collections/using-the-collections/accessibility-information If you have any questions or would like to discuss further, please contact LHSA at LHSA@ed.ac.uk

Understanding Oor Mad History