Anne O'Donnell | University of Edinburgh (original) (raw)
Papers by Anne O'Donnell
What have I become
Concept eBooks, Apr 30, 2020
Personal and professional reflection on Covid-19 Please download from the link - Open Access O’Do... more Personal and professional reflection on Covid-19 Please download from the link - Open Access O’Donnell, A. (2020) “What have I become?”, Concept, 11(Supplement), pp. 1-3. Available at: http://concept.lib.ed.ac.uk/article/view/4366
This article explores the relationship between policy discourses framed around notions of resilie... more This article explores the relationship between policy discourses framed around notions of resilience, the influence of the mental health user movement, and the institutionalisation of the recovery model in mental health programmes. This has particular relevance for community education practice. It argues that a spurious consensus has been constructed which conceals competing interests, contested meanings and contentious politics. It concludes by considering what hope there is for reclaiming recovery as a social and political practice which is capable of resisting those neoliberal austerity agendas through which it is currently constructed. Although it is written from the Scottish context, it will certainly have relevance elsewhere.
Community Development Journal, 2017
Access to the full text of the published version may require a subscription.
Oor Mad History: Community history as a way of revitalising mental health collective advocacy
… : Critical Perspectives from …, 2010
... Oor Mad History: Community history as a way of revitalising mental health collective advocacy... more ... Oor Mad History: Community history as a way of revitalising mental health collective advocacy Anne O'Donnell 6 ... Harding and Gabriel claim that '[a] n enduring and dominant theme in generating life-story interviews… has been the enrichment and democratisation of history and ...
What Have I Become
Concept, 2020
Personal and professional reflection on Covid-19 Please download from the link - Open Access ... more Personal and professional reflection on Covid-19
Please download from the link - Open Access
O’Donnell, A. (2020) “What have I become?”, Concept, 11(Supplement), pp. 1-3. Available at: http://concept.lib.ed.ac.uk/article/view/4366
Journal of Ethics in Mental Health, 2019
Telling our own stories of our experiences of distress and madness, of oppression and treatment, ... more Telling our own stories of our experiences of distress and madness, of oppression and treatment, of survival and resistance, is a source of power for people who use or are forced to use mental health services. Storytelling has created a space for people, whose voices have been traditionally silenced, to be heard, affirmed, and to organise into collective action. However, recent trends suggest that these stories are becoming a commodity with mental health organisations and educational institutions using them primarily to promote their own agendas. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to disempower and to humanise. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity. (Adichie, 2009) We three women are activists (survivors, researchers, and educators) and, drawing from our experiences in the Scottish and Irish contexts, we discuss the need to constantly problematise what has been achieved through the user movement. We are frustrated because people who share their stories remain disadvantaged, often unpaid, unequal partners while organisations, professionals, and academics benefit through receiving funding and building a career path on the basis of user involvement. While this is an unsettling position, we believe that we can make the best of it by being critical rather than cynical, by staying hopeful and engaged with the constantly changing demands of activism.
Community Development Journal, 2017
Anne O’Donnell and Lydia Sapouna, based in Scotland and Ireland, respectively, are activists and ... more Anne O’Donnell and Lydia Sapouna, based in Scotland and Ireland, respectively, are activists and writers who have made long-standing contributions to the debate about mental health and recovery. In this dialogue they exchange analyses of the achievements and lessons to be learned from mental health activism that has resisted dominant narratives of mental illness and that has created innovative, collaborative and critical spaces for the exchange of ideas, experiences and enthusiasms. The dialogue seeks to evoke the distinctive styles of activism adopted in each context, the successes engendered and the kinds of dilemmas and tactical choices navigated. Ann and Lydia have initiated a process of reflection and exchange, and out of this they have constructed a dialogical piece that highlights key organizational issues for mental health activists and for community based social movements more generally.
Don’t be mean. Be Kind
Asylum, 2017
Elspeth Morrison is also a co-author. Unusually, and refreshing for an academic conference, ... more Elspeth Morrison is also a co-author.
Unusually, and refreshing for an academic conference, the Mad Studies stream was topped and tailed with reminders
of the importance of kindness. Peter Beresford talked about the need to be kind to one another, and Helen Spandler quoted Kate Bornstein: “Don’t be mean. Be Kind”.
We were very struck by Helen Spandler talking about those LGBT people who embraced equal marriage as being assimilators, and we worry that similar divisions happen amongst Mad people. Our communities can be as divisive
and cruel as the rest of the world. Human nature veers between judging people as different to us and conversely
wanting to belong to something.
In her keynote, Jijian Voronka asked: Whose voices
get heard? Whose experiences are valid and acceptable
and whose are considered too angry or unpalatable to the
powers that be? This tied in with a question from Helen
Spandler: Who is “mad enough, queer enough, disabled
enough” to be part of Mad Studies?
Article published in Concept in 2006 about my discovery of collective advocacy and community educ... more Article published in Concept in 2006 about my discovery of collective advocacy and community education.
'Oor Mad History': community history as a way of revitalising mental health collective advocacy
For many marginalised groups, oral history is a key way of discovering and recovering their histo... more For many marginalised groups, oral history is a key way of discovering and recovering their history. People who use mental health services have been challenging the mental health system in the Lothians since the late 1980s. This has led to increased demands for collective advocacy groups to be involved in consultations and we have not been able to focus on what we think is important and the structural issues we face are not being addressed. We intend to rediscover our history through Oor Mad History, a community oral history project, in order to strengthen and refocus collective advocacy groups.
Resilience and Resistance on the Road to Recovery in Mental Health
Concept, 2016
This article explores the relationship between policy discourses framed around notions of resilie... more This article explores the relationship between policy discourses framed around notions of resilience, the influence of the mental health user movement, and the institutionalisation of the recovery model in mental health programmes. This has particular relevance for community education practice. It argues that a spurious consensus has been constructed which conceals competing interests, contested meanings and contentious politics. It concludes by considering what hope there is for reclaiming recovery as a social and political practice which is capable of resisting those neoliberal austerity agendas through which it is currently constructed. Although it is written from the Scottish context, it will certainly have relevance elsewhere.
Read at http://concept.lib.ed.ac.uk/issue/view/217
Book Chapters by Anne O'Donnell
Reclaiming agency through Oor Mad History’
Inside Out, Outside In: transforming mental health practices, 2019
O’Donnell, A and MacLean, K (2019) ‘Reclaiming agency through Oor Mad History’ in Inside Out, Out... more O’Donnell, A and MacLean, K (2019) ‘Reclaiming agency through Oor Mad History’ in Inside Out, Outside In: transforming mental health practices, Sapouna, L, Gijbels, H and Sidley, G (eds), Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books, pp. 245-260
What have I become
Concept eBooks, Apr 30, 2020
Personal and professional reflection on Covid-19 Please download from the link - Open Access O’Do... more Personal and professional reflection on Covid-19 Please download from the link - Open Access O’Donnell, A. (2020) “What have I become?”, Concept, 11(Supplement), pp. 1-3. Available at: http://concept.lib.ed.ac.uk/article/view/4366
This article explores the relationship between policy discourses framed around notions of resilie... more This article explores the relationship between policy discourses framed around notions of resilience, the influence of the mental health user movement, and the institutionalisation of the recovery model in mental health programmes. This has particular relevance for community education practice. It argues that a spurious consensus has been constructed which conceals competing interests, contested meanings and contentious politics. It concludes by considering what hope there is for reclaiming recovery as a social and political practice which is capable of resisting those neoliberal austerity agendas through which it is currently constructed. Although it is written from the Scottish context, it will certainly have relevance elsewhere.
Community Development Journal, 2017
Access to the full text of the published version may require a subscription.
Oor Mad History: Community history as a way of revitalising mental health collective advocacy
… : Critical Perspectives from …, 2010
... Oor Mad History: Community history as a way of revitalising mental health collective advocacy... more ... Oor Mad History: Community history as a way of revitalising mental health collective advocacy Anne O'Donnell 6 ... Harding and Gabriel claim that '[a] n enduring and dominant theme in generating life-story interviews… has been the enrichment and democratisation of history and ...
What Have I Become
Concept, 2020
Personal and professional reflection on Covid-19 Please download from the link - Open Access ... more Personal and professional reflection on Covid-19
Please download from the link - Open Access
O’Donnell, A. (2020) “What have I become?”, Concept, 11(Supplement), pp. 1-3. Available at: http://concept.lib.ed.ac.uk/article/view/4366
Journal of Ethics in Mental Health, 2019
Telling our own stories of our experiences of distress and madness, of oppression and treatment, ... more Telling our own stories of our experiences of distress and madness, of oppression and treatment, of survival and resistance, is a source of power for people who use or are forced to use mental health services. Storytelling has created a space for people, whose voices have been traditionally silenced, to be heard, affirmed, and to organise into collective action. However, recent trends suggest that these stories are becoming a commodity with mental health organisations and educational institutions using them primarily to promote their own agendas. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to disempower and to humanise. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity. (Adichie, 2009) We three women are activists (survivors, researchers, and educators) and, drawing from our experiences in the Scottish and Irish contexts, we discuss the need to constantly problematise what has been achieved through the user movement. We are frustrated because people who share their stories remain disadvantaged, often unpaid, unequal partners while organisations, professionals, and academics benefit through receiving funding and building a career path on the basis of user involvement. While this is an unsettling position, we believe that we can make the best of it by being critical rather than cynical, by staying hopeful and engaged with the constantly changing demands of activism.
Community Development Journal, 2017
Anne O’Donnell and Lydia Sapouna, based in Scotland and Ireland, respectively, are activists and ... more Anne O’Donnell and Lydia Sapouna, based in Scotland and Ireland, respectively, are activists and writers who have made long-standing contributions to the debate about mental health and recovery. In this dialogue they exchange analyses of the achievements and lessons to be learned from mental health activism that has resisted dominant narratives of mental illness and that has created innovative, collaborative and critical spaces for the exchange of ideas, experiences and enthusiasms. The dialogue seeks to evoke the distinctive styles of activism adopted in each context, the successes engendered and the kinds of dilemmas and tactical choices navigated. Ann and Lydia have initiated a process of reflection and exchange, and out of this they have constructed a dialogical piece that highlights key organizational issues for mental health activists and for community based social movements more generally.
Don’t be mean. Be Kind
Asylum, 2017
Elspeth Morrison is also a co-author. Unusually, and refreshing for an academic conference, ... more Elspeth Morrison is also a co-author.
Unusually, and refreshing for an academic conference, the Mad Studies stream was topped and tailed with reminders
of the importance of kindness. Peter Beresford talked about the need to be kind to one another, and Helen Spandler quoted Kate Bornstein: “Don’t be mean. Be Kind”.
We were very struck by Helen Spandler talking about those LGBT people who embraced equal marriage as being assimilators, and we worry that similar divisions happen amongst Mad people. Our communities can be as divisive
and cruel as the rest of the world. Human nature veers between judging people as different to us and conversely
wanting to belong to something.
In her keynote, Jijian Voronka asked: Whose voices
get heard? Whose experiences are valid and acceptable
and whose are considered too angry or unpalatable to the
powers that be? This tied in with a question from Helen
Spandler: Who is “mad enough, queer enough, disabled
enough” to be part of Mad Studies?
Article published in Concept in 2006 about my discovery of collective advocacy and community educ... more Article published in Concept in 2006 about my discovery of collective advocacy and community education.
'Oor Mad History': community history as a way of revitalising mental health collective advocacy
For many marginalised groups, oral history is a key way of discovering and recovering their histo... more For many marginalised groups, oral history is a key way of discovering and recovering their history. People who use mental health services have been challenging the mental health system in the Lothians since the late 1980s. This has led to increased demands for collective advocacy groups to be involved in consultations and we have not been able to focus on what we think is important and the structural issues we face are not being addressed. We intend to rediscover our history through Oor Mad History, a community oral history project, in order to strengthen and refocus collective advocacy groups.
Resilience and Resistance on the Road to Recovery in Mental Health
Concept, 2016
This article explores the relationship between policy discourses framed around notions of resilie... more This article explores the relationship between policy discourses framed around notions of resilience, the influence of the mental health user movement, and the institutionalisation of the recovery model in mental health programmes. This has particular relevance for community education practice. It argues that a spurious consensus has been constructed which conceals competing interests, contested meanings and contentious politics. It concludes by considering what hope there is for reclaiming recovery as a social and political practice which is capable of resisting those neoliberal austerity agendas through which it is currently constructed. Although it is written from the Scottish context, it will certainly have relevance elsewhere.
Read at http://concept.lib.ed.ac.uk/issue/view/217
Reclaiming agency through Oor Mad History’
Inside Out, Outside In: transforming mental health practices, 2019
O’Donnell, A and MacLean, K (2019) ‘Reclaiming agency through Oor Mad History’ in Inside Out, Out... more O’Donnell, A and MacLean, K (2019) ‘Reclaiming agency through Oor Mad History’ in Inside Out, Outside In: transforming mental health practices, Sapouna, L, Gijbels, H and Sidley, G (eds), Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books, pp. 245-260