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Book Me

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Please contact me if you would like to book me for conferences, training or consultancy work – or to explore how these might benefit your organisation.

Organisations I have worked with in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, UK and USA include:

  • Aarhus Kommune (Denmark)
  • Advocates, Inc. Framingham (USA)
  • Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
  • Asylum Associates
  • Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust
  • Beside Mental Health Community Project
  • Building Bridges Trust (New Zealand)
  • Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust
  • Camden and Islington Providers Forum
  • Care Services Improvement Services
  • Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Trust
  • Chester Mind
  • City & Hackney Mind
  • Community Service Volunteers
  • Core Arts
  • Critical Voices Network (Ireland)
  • Dansk Selskab for Psykosocial Rehabilitering (Denmark)
  • Down & Lisburn Mental Health Trust (Ireland)
  • Division of Clinical Psychology
  • Durham University
  • Enfield Council
  • Equinox Care
  • Family Care Foundation (Sweden)
  • Family Tree
  • Family Welfare Association
  • Foundation Excellence in Mental Health (USA)
  • Freedom Centre, Northampton, Massachusetts, (USA)
  • Freud’s Friends
  • Gateway Community Health, Wodonga (Australia)
  • Goldsmiths University
  • Hampshire Social Services
  • Hearing Voices Network
  • Hellenic Hearing Voices Network (Greece)
  • Hertfordshire County Council
  • HM Prison Birmingham
  • Institute of Psychiatry
  • Intervoice
  • IGPB (Netherlands)
  • ISPS (New Zealand)
  • ISPS (UK)
  • Islington Mind
  • Lambeth Mind
  • Lancaster University
  • Leeds Mind
  • Lincoln University
  • London Borough of Sutton
  • London Cyrenians Housing Ltd.
  • London Development Centre
  • London Metropolitan University
  • London South Bank University
  • Loughborough University
  • Mad in America (USA)
  • The Market Place Leeds
  • Mental Health Media
  • Middlesbrough Mind
  • Mind in Camden
  • Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, (USA)
  • National Mind
  • Network for Change
  • Newham NHS Trust
  • Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
  • Northampton Social Services
  • Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Notting Hill Housing Association
  • National Survivor User Network
  • One Housing Group
  • Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
  • Prahran Mission (Australia)
  • Psykovision (Denmark)
  • Rampton Hospital, Nottingham Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Rethink
  • Richmond Fellowship (Australia)
  • Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council
  • Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
  • Royal College Of Psychiatry
  • Schizophrenia Ireland
  • SHIP Leeds
  • Shropshire Council
  • Social Care Institute for Excellence
  • South Staffordshire and Shropshire NHS Foundation Trust
  • Spring Lake Ranch (USA)
  • St James House
  • St Mungo’s
  • Sutton Mental Health Foundation
  • Thames Reach
  • Tiger Aspect Films
  • Tigerlily Films
  • Together
  • Trinity College Dublin (Ireland)
  • University College Cork (Ireland)
  • University College London
  • University of Auckland (New Zealand)
  • University of East London
  • University of Essex
  • University of Greenwich
  • University of Manchester
  • University of Savonna (Italy)
  • University Of Surrey
  • Voice Collective
  • Voices of the Heart (USA)
  • Voices Vic (Australia)
  • Western Mass Recovery Learning Community (USA)
  • Westminster Mind
  • Wolverhampton Social Services
  • Working to Recovery

Consultancy

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I can offer my unique perspective of working with and making sense of profound distress and extreme states of mind and the impact it has on individuals, teams and organizations. I also have extensive experience in working collaboratively, creatively and in partnership with disempowered and disenfranchised individuals and groups to bring about sustained and lasting improved positive outcomes.  I have provided coaching and mentoring, supervision and consultancy to individuals, teams and organisations.

Case Study:

I recently worked as a consultant for a large provider of services to people who are homeless. I was asked to facilitate a process which focused specifically on the experience of female service users many of whom were defined as having complex needs e.g. survivors of childhood abuse and neglect, currently homeless, using drugs i.e. crack cocaine, sex working, issues with self-harm, eating disorders, mental health issues and were also dealing with the effects of the ensuing loss of their families.

My initial remit was to facilitate a day that aimed to critically evaluate how the organisation could effectively improve services for women. The day was attended by service users, front line workers, area managers and senior managers. Drawing on the collective experience and expertise of both staff and service users attending the workshop, the session explored:

  • Whether women presented more complex support issues than their male counterparts?
  • What were the key elements of successful support services for women?
  • How could we best ensure consistency across various projects?
  • What were the essential skills and knowledge required by staff teams?

The information which was shared and documented during this day helped to inform the development of an implementation group for the organisations women’s strategy, and established clear targets which had been shaped and defined by women’s experiences of using the service and staff experiences of delivering the service.

I then facilitated a 2nd complimentary session with staff from a number of different projects and departments within the organisation to capture learning to date and plan the future work-streams: specifically looking at staff training, service structure and equalities issues.

As a consequence there are new, specific learning opportunities for staff, alongside a developing coherence of service delivery to women who have experienced trauma, abuse and sexual exploitation.

This consultation work continues and will inform the future structure, planning and efficacy of services.

Biography

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Jacqui Dillon was born and bred in East London where she still lives. She is a respected campaigner, writer, international speaker and trainer specialising in hearing voices, ‘psychosis’, dissociation, trauma, abuse, healing and recovery. Jacqui has worked within mental health services for more than 15 years, in a variety of settings, including community, acute, low, medium and high secure settings, prisons, colleges and universities.

Jacqui is the national Chair of the Hearing Voices Network in England and a key figure in the Hearing Voices Movement internationally. She is Honorary Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at the University of East London, Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health at Durham University and Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Community Mental Health, Birmingham City University.

Along with Professor Marius Romme and Dr Sandra Escher she is the co-editor of Living with Voices, an anthology of 50 voice hearers’ stories of recovery. She is also co-editor of Demedicalising Misery: Psychiatry, Psychology and the Human Condition and Models of Madness: Psychological, Social and Biological Approaches to Psychosis (2nd Edition). Jacqui has published numerous articles and papers and is on the editorial board of the journal Psychosis: Psychological, Social and Integrative Approaches.

Jacqui’s experiences of surviving childhood abuse and subsequent experiences of using psychiatric services inform her work and she is an outspoken advocate and campaigner for trauma informed approaches to madness and distress. She was nominated for Mind Champion of the Year Award 2009 for her outstanding contribution to increasing understanding of mental health.

Jacqui is proud to be a part of a collective voice demanding a radical shift in the way we make sense of and respond to experiences currently defined as psychiatric illnesses. Alongside her work which she is passionate about, Jacqui enjoys swimming, dancing, laughing and spending time with the people she loves, especially her children.

 

Work

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The following is an overview of the services I offer. All of my work is covered by Professional Indemnity Insurance. Please see the above sections for more details.

Training:Jacqui at a conference

The training I offer is based on extensive personal and professional experience, knowledge and skills. All training is experiential enabling participants to develop a deeper understanding and greater insight by exploring experiences from both a subjective and objective perspective. All training is bespoke so it can be tailored to meet the needs of your organisation

Consultancy:

I can offer my unique perspective of working with and making sense of profound distress and extreme states of mind and the impact it has on individuals, teams and organizations. I also have extensive experience in working collaboratively, creatively and in partnership with disempowered and disenfranchised individuals and groups to bring about sustained and lasting improved positive outcomes. I have provided coaching and mentoring, supervision and consultancy to individuals, teams and organisations.

Conferences:

I am an experienced and accomplished public speaker. I have spoken at numerous national and international conferences and events for both statutory and non-government organisations. I have been a keynote speaker at a variety of events on a diverse range of subjects.