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Author: Kate Horton and Neil Perron. It’s always sad to see a project end, particularly when it’s a project that’s brought joy and companionship as an integral part of the work. That is something that is felt, of course, by professionals* in the world of research, but it can be felt so much more by the public who have contributed to the project.

In our final blog post of 2025 the Institute's Public Involvement Lead, Kate Horton, reflects on the value of meaningful Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in shaping research. Find out how our Public Advisory Group can support researchers.

Author: Eve Park, MindTech Research Placement Student. On Thursday 13th November, I had the opportunity to go to the Digital Youth X MindTech conference at County Hall in London. It was my first ever conference and if I was to sum it up in three words they would be: empowering, exciting, and perhaps also exhausting.

­Following the release of I Swear last month, a film depicting the life of Tourette’s activist John Davidson and his experience being diagnosed with tics at a young age in a time where Tourette’s Syndrome was very much unheard of, we asked researchers and people with lived experience for their opinions on the film.

My name is Ruby Bradshaw, I'm in Year 12 of Sixth Form and from the 23rd to 27th of June I got the amazing opportunity to do some work experience with the MindTech team at the Institute of Mental Health, University of Nottingham, a research facility focusing on mental healthcare and dementia technologies.

Author: Debbie Butler. I would like to share my latest milestone, 25 years of volunteering and paid work in Research using my experience as a long-term patient of the NHS in many of their services from Mental Health to many orthopaedic surgeries and beyond.

Author: Rianna Patterson, PhD Student on the LEND research programme The Dementia Symposium was held by Stitching Alzheimer's Curacao for their 25th anniversary at the University of Curaçao and brought together key stakeholders, advocates, and experts in dementia care.

Author: Lexine Glover - Student at The Becket Sixth Form At first glance I didn’t think much of the exhibition; “how can an exhibition relate depression to comic books?” and wondered how such a link could be explored. However, my work experience week with Professor Elvira Perez required me to write a blog post about it. So, despite my initial inertia, I decided to engage with the art.

Author: Professor Paul Crawford From books to films, and singing to dancing, our cultural health is very much part of our social, physical and mental health. We can lead healthier lives through participating in culture, in the arts. We can think of such activity as ‘creative survival’ (Crawford & Crawford, 2021), helping us to reduce our stress, connect with others, and enjoy a colourful and fulfilling life.

Author: Dr Ayokunmi Ojebode   “Poetry is an essential safety valve of relief and release” (Dowling, 2014)

There has been a recent increase in training about microaggressions. The term was first coined by Harvard psychiatrist Chester Pierce in the 1960s. We experience a microaggression when we feel an aspect of our identity has been slighted. This is particularly apparent for stigmatised or marginalised identities.

Dr Stefan Rennick-Egglestone, Institute of Mental Health A big change seems to have occurred in our society over the last few decades. Mental health problems, once somewhat more private, are now openly discussed by many.

RAAC, the aerated concrete that turns out to be part construction material and part Aero bar, may be lousy at reinforcing school buildings. But it is pretty good at reinforcing the idea that very little is nowadays geared towards young people’s mental wellbeing. After all, there is something perversely apt about the image of a classroom suddenly caving in. It serves as a neat visual metaphor for the tremendous pressures that children and students now face: like RAAC, their mental health is too often shot full of holes and perilously fragile.

The Forensic Research Nottingham (FRN) group was established early in 2021, with a view to further developing forensic research both in Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and at the University of Nottingham. It provides a collaborative forum to bring together all those linked to either of the two organisations and interested or active in forensic research.

My name is Scott Pomberth and I work as a Carer Peer Support Worker in the City Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

We will be remembering our Covid lockdown experiences for some time yet! In such reflections on how we experienced “the greatest confinement in history” (Crawford & Crawford, 2021), we may well have engaged in creative practices such as writing, drawing, photography, painting and so on to capture these.

I have worked in social care for my entire career, I am also a keen potter, in fact my DNA has shown me that despite my hopes to the contrary of some fascinating genetic past I am 80% Potteries born and bred. It also turns out that I can turn my hand to multitude of other crafts in pursuit of social connection, joy and reduced isolation for people affected by dementia.

“Inner rooms, inner minds” is the latest exhibition from Nottingham-based artist Edwina Kung, shown at the Institute of mental Health from 13 December 2022 – 24 March 2023. As the event draws to a close, we asked Edwina about the relationship between her art and mental wellbeing.

Ahead of our ‘Surviving by Storytelling’ workshop especially for NHS colleagues, host and drama psychotherapist Nikki Disney writes about the value of ‘pressing pause’.

In this latest blog post, Debbie Butler shares her experience of the positive benefits of music for mental health. Debbie is a member of our Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Advisory Group and has been involved in research at the Institute for many years.