As with any other area of health-related academic activity outputs from philosophy and mental health include contributions to the development of improved services for patients and service users
In some instances, these are mediated by the research and educational activities indexed on other pages of this website; in other instances, philosophical insights have had a direct impact on aspects of contemporary care. We include here examples of both.
We have not attempted to include the many contributions from moral and political philosophy to the ethics and law governing mental health policy and practice. These and other resources of the increasingly well-stocked values toolkit supporting contemporary clinical care are sufficiently covered elsewhere.
It is the latter that are indexed here.
More Information: Contact INPP to contact the INPP Website Editor.
Phenomenology and Clinical Care
Since the foundational work of Karl Jaspers phenomenology has been among the foremost philosophical contributors to mental health care.
- Introduction to Phenomenology and Clinical Care
- Index of Contemporary Applications
Introduction to Phenomenology and Clinical care
Continuing the tradition of Twentieth Century phenomenology and psychiatry established by Karl Jaspers, a wide range of contemporary researchers and clinicians contribute to clinically oriented research in phenomenological psychopathology.
We give a sample of these in this section. Others are listed in the Index of Research and in the Index of Educational Resources on other pages of this website.
A comprehensive selection of work in contemporary phenomenology relevant to mental health is given in The Oxford Handbook of Phenomenological Psychopathology.
Index of Contemporary Applications
The following table gives a sample of those working in areas of contemporary phenomenology relevant to clinical care in mental health
Under Construction
Analytic Philosophy and Values-based Practice
Derived as a philosophy-into-practice output from mid-Twentieth Century Oxford analytic philosophy (the so-called ‘Oxford School’), values-based practice is a partner to evidence-based practice in supporting shared clinical decision-making as the basis of contemporary science-led patient-centred clinical care.
The Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice
Although values-based practice was developed first in mental health, since the launch in 2015 of the Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice at St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford, many key initiatives have been in areas of bodily medicine such as surgical care, radiology, occupational therapy, paramedic and emergency medicine, and clinical pharmacy. Additional urgency has been given to these initiatives with the recognition of shared decision-making drawing on evidence and values as the basis of consent to treatment (this was enshrined in UK law in 2015 by the Supreme Court Montgomery ruling.
Guided by an Advisory Board of senior National Health Service and political figures, the work of the Centre has been in three main areas, Education and Training, Regulation, Law and Guidance, and Integration and Teamwork. This work has been mediated in each case primarily by the Centre’s Collaborating partners through its Networks. We give examples of both (with apologies to those not shown) together with a sample of illustrative publications. Full details are available on the centre’s website – as follows
- More Information: Click Here The Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice for further details of the work of the centre including searchable lists of it's (more than two hundred) Collaborating partners, of its current Networks, and of its VBP-related publications
- More Information: Click Here Index of Research for examples of the research outputs of the Centre as these related to mental health.
Education and Training
Examples of the work of the Centre on education and training as these relate to mental health are included in the Index of Educational Resources
Regulation, Law and Guidance
The following tables give examples of work in values-based practice on Regulation, Law and Guidance respectively by individual partners in the Centre, by organisational partners, and by networks. The final section of the table gives a sample of related publications
Individual Partners
| Last Name | First Name | Background | Description | VBP Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coulter | Angela | Freelance health services researcher and health policy analyst Oxford; Non-Executive Director of NICE; honorary professor at the University of Southern Denmark | Working on a range of apps to support children and young people to bring what matters or is important to them into the design and delivery of mental health services | Angela Coulter |
| Crepaz-Keay | David | Head of Empowerment and Social Inclusion Mental Health Foundation. | Working with colleagues in genetics to bring mental health service users’ values into the design and delivery of genetics counselling services particularly as new technologies extend the range and detail of individual genomic information | David Crepaz-Keay |
| Dudas | Robert | Consultant Psychiatrist and Work Stream Lead for Audit and Research for the Zero Suicide Programme at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) Cambridge | Work on Zero Suicide Programme reflects values-based perspective – developing this further with wider range of work on the values that psychiatrists bring to services | Robert Dudas |
| Gray | Muir | Professor Sir Director Better Value Healthcare (BVHC) | Formerly a senior health service manager, now running a programme on ‘triple value healthcare’, ie service provision that combines economic, technical and personal values (see also entry for Better Value Healthcare) | Professor Muir Gray |
| Haigh | Rex | Framework Lead Positive Environments Royal College of Psychiatrists | Leading on work exploring the impact of environmental resources and constraints on service provision | Rex Haigh |
| Kinton | Mat | National Mental Health Act Policy Advisor for the Care Quality Commission. | In a former role as Research Officer for the Mental Health Act Commission (the functions of which have now been taken over by the Care Quality commission), Mat was among the first to introduce values-based principles into the monitoring of mental health service provision | Mat Kinton |
| Richards | Veryan | Lay participant contributing towards shaping the policy narrative and improving patient experience in mental healthcare. | Leading on the incorporation of values and values-based practice into all aspects of the work of the Royal College of Psychiatrists | Veryan Richards |
| Roeg | Waldo | Peer Support Specialist/Peer Trainer Recovery & Wellbeing College CNWL (Central and North West London) NHS Foundation Trust | Building on personal experience to develop and deliver values-based practice in the context of recovery training. Working also with the Bristol Co-production Group | Waldo Roeg |
| Venkatapuram | Sridhar | Lecturer in Global Health & Philosophy King’s College London Senior Research Associate University of Johannesburg Philosophy | Formerly a Lecturer in Moral Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy, University of Cambridge (UK), and recruited by the epidemiologist Sir Michael Marmot (an expert in economic health inequalities) to run an innovative practical programme promoting the principles of health justice in the development and delivery of services. In this context, prompted the extension of values-based practice to include social as well as individual values. | Sridhar Venkatapuram |
| Villarmea | Stella | Accredited Full Professor in Philosophy University of Alcalá Madrid Spain | A philosopher working on values in childbirth including mental health aspects | Stella Villarmea |
Organisational Partners
| Name | Location | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Critical Values Based Practice Network | UK | School of Health Sciences, The University of Nottingham, and Royal Derby Hospital, UK -Organisational Partner | An interdisciplinary group of service providers and service users that has carried out a number of funded service development projects including a ‘values-based mental health ward round’ |
| Commission for Values-based CAMHS | UK | Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services – Royal College of Psychiatrists, London, UK – Organisational Partner | Set up by former President of The Royal College of Psychiatrists, and VBP Collaborating Centre Advisory Board member, Professor Dame Sue Bailey, the commission carried out a programme of research and witness statements exploring the values of (what really mattered to) children and young people in the provision of mental health services. The Values-Based Child and Adolescent Mental Health system (VB CAMHs) Network is exploring practical approaches to implementing the Commission’s findings |
| National Survivor User Network (NSUN) | UK | Organisational Partner | A service-user led organisation that researches and publishes policy documents on mental health service provision |
| Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care | UK | The UK’s regulator of health and social care regulators. London UK – Organisational Partner | Under its Chief Executive (and VBP Collaborating Centre Advisory Board member), Harry Cayton, the PSA supported a range of initiatives bringing values-based principles in the regulatory framework supporting health care |
Networks
| Name | Convener | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazilian VBP Network | Guilherme Messas | Brazil | Among many other initiatives (see also Index of Educational Resources), working with the Co-production Addictive Behaviour (CAB) Research Network to develop values-based addiction services in Brazil and the UK |
| Educational Voice Hearing Network | Dr David Crepaz-Keay | UK | A service-user led group developing values-based support services for people who hear voices for example in employment contexts |
| Law and Ethics of Anorexia Nervosa – Values in Practice (LEAN ViP) | Jacinta Tan | UK | Working closely with the VB CAMHs Network to develop values-based services particularly for young people with anorexia |
| Understanding Personality Disorders Network | Konrad Banicki | Poland | A joint UK-Polish initiative working on phenomenologically-infornmed values-based service development and delivery for people diagnosed with personality disorders |
| The Values-Based Child and Adolescent Mental Health system (VB CAMHs) Network | Leo Kroll | UK | Network formed to take forward implementation of the Commission for Values-based CAHMs (see above organisational partner entry) |
| Title | Author | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Values-Based Child and Adolescent Mental Health System Commission, What Really Matters in Children and Young People’s Mental Health. (2016, London: Royal College of Psychiatrists) | Royal College of Psychiatrists | The report of the Commission for Values-based CAHMs (Child and Adolescent Mental Health System Commission) was launched on November 7th at a reception at the House of Lords hosted by Commission Chair Baroness Tyler Among other findings the Commission emphasised the importance of building closer links between education and healthcare in the provision of services supporting the mental health of children and young people. To download a copy go to the VBP website to More about VBP/Full Text Downloads [link valuesbasedpractice.org/mor…] and scroll down to this entry. |
 | Values-Based Commissioning of Health and Social Care (20xx, Cambridge University Press) | Christopher Heginbotham | An experienced health services manager and academic Chris Heginbotham was the first to identify the importance of values-based commissioning and to develop a detailed model for effective implementation |
 | The Dementia Manifesto: Putting Values-Based Practice to Work | Toby Williamson and Julian Hughes | This book represents a new turn in approaching dementia. It is a manifesto which sets out important principles about the nature of dementia both as a disease and as a disability and explores how a values-based, person-centred and rights-based approach can be applied to every aspect of the experience of dementia. |
 | Values-based Decision-making Protocol for social work | Reuben WOO, Yan-wah | Based on his work at the Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention, Hong Kong, Reuben Woo’s Decision Making Protocol provides a comprehensive guide for social workers in different areas of practice |
| The Values-Based Child and Adolescent Mental Health system (VB CAMHs) Network | Leo Kroll | UK | Network formed to take forward implementation of the Commission for Values-based CAHMs (see above organisational partner entry) |
Integration and Teamwork
The following tables give examples of work in values-based practice on Integration and Teamwork respectively by individual partners in the Centre, by organisational partners, and by networks. The final section of the table gives a sample of related publications
Individual Partners
| Last Name | First Name | Background | Description | VBP Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berger | Sarah | teaching and research in inter-professional education Medical Faculty University of Heidelberg Germany | Sarah Berger | |
| Bharatan | Ila | Research Assistant Warwick Business School | working with Rachel Manning on values and teamwork | Ila S. Bharatan |
| Blythe | Andrew | Writer and Editor: Blythe Spirit: Communicating Diversity | Writer and Expert by Experience – co-produced with Wendy Hawksworth Permission to Care – also author of values-based communication skills section of Essential CPE: depression and anxiety (for Pharmaceutical Society of Australia) | Andrew Blythe |
| Carr | Sarah | Associate Professor of Mental Health Research Middlesex University | Director of Sarah Carr and Associates mental health and social care knowledge consultancy | Dr Sarah Carr |
| Fetterolf | Elliana | Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Philosophy | Working on the collaborative research project ‘Therapeutic Conflicts: Co-Producing Meaning in Mental Health’ (Principal Investigator: Edward Harcourt) Faculty of Philosophy University of Oxford; Research Associate Keble College Oxford, and the Bristol Co-production Group | Dr Elianna Fetterolf |
| Fisher | Pamela | University of Leeds | Ran ESRC-funded Seminar Series on ‘Re-imagining professionalism: towards co-production’ | Pamela Fisher |
| King | Colin | Black and Asian Coaches Association; Lead for the Whiteness and Race Equality Network | Bringing together personal experience of services with philosophical insights (for example from Franz Fanon) into the impact of implicit values of whiteness on services and thereby to improve service provision for black and minority ethnic service users (see also entry for the Whiteness and Race Equality Network) | Colin King |
| Lobel | Pierre | MA MD FACP FRCPsych Emeritus Clinical Professor Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences University of Washington Seattle USA | Psychiatrist supporting work by the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics on strengthening the impact of the biopsychosocial model in practice | J. Pierre Loebel |
| Manning | Rachel | Research Fellow, Warwick University Business School | Working with ILa Bharatan on values and teamwork; also leading on research on Housing First as a values-based response to homelessness | Rachel Manning |
| Matiti | Milika | Co-lead for Inter-professional Education University of Lincoln College of Social Science School of Health and Social Care | Leading a Collaborative Inter-professional Education Undergraduate project between a health trust and university. Also a member of CAIPE and of the African Inter-professional Education Network | Milika Matiti |
| Sakakibara | Eisuke | M.D. Graduate School of Medicine The University of Tokyo/Department of Neuropsychiatry The University of Tokyo Hospital | Working on pathology and normalization | Eisuke Sakakibara |
| Thistlethwaite | Jill | Professor health professional consultant; Adjunct professor University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Sydney | Author of Values-based Interprofessional Collaborative Practice: Working Together in Health Care – see publications below | Jill Thistlethwaite |
Organisational Partners
| Name | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Action for Collaborative Transformation (ACT) | UK | Among many other initiatives (see also Index of Educational Resources), working with the Co-production Addictive Behaviour (CAB) Research Network to develop values-based addiction services in Brazil and the UK |
| Black and Asian Coaches Association | UK | A service-user led group developing values-based support services for people who hear voices for example in employment contexts |
| The Bristol Co-Production Group | UK | Working closely with the VB CAMHs Network to develop values-based services particularly for young people with anorexia |
| Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust RecoverCentral North West London NHS Foundation Trust Recovery & Wellbeing College.y & Wellbeing College. | UK | Runs an educational programme to help support people in their recovery journey by finding the tools and skills to self-manage through partnership between expertise by experience and professional expertise. All aspects of the college are co-produced: the team is made up of 50% lived experience and 50% professional expertise, bringing that balance between evidenced based practice and lived experience together in a values based environment. |
| Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education | UK | Promotes and develops interprofessional education (IPE) in collaboration with like-minded organizations in the UK and overseas. The Values Based Interprofessional Education and Practice Network (see below) is convened by former CAIPE President, Dr Richard Gray |
| Centro de Humanidades, Facultad de Medicina Clínica Alemana Universidad del Desarrollo | Chile | Creates an open and interdisciplinary dialogue between the humanities and the medical sciences through interdisciplinary humanistic projects in the medical and clinical campuses of the Faculty of Medicine (for example, “Buscando Sentido” (Searching for Meaning) explores through participatory workshops students’ identity, motivations, tastes, interpretation of the world and personal projections, through joint work between artists and other experts (sociologists, philosophers, psychologists, neurobiologists and anthropologists). |
| Collaborate CIC | UK | Work with government, business and civil society, on the thinking, culture and practice of cross-sector collaboration in public services needed in the increasingly complex operating environment of contemporary society Collaborate, the Collaborating Centre for VBP and London South Bank University’s joint program on ‘The Future of Collaboration in Services to the Public’ took the form of a series of Round Table Seminars hosted by Lord Adebowale in the House of Lords and resulted in the publication ‘The Anatomy of Collaboration’ (see below). |
| Mental Health, Health and Social Care (MH2aSC) research group | UK | Mental Health, Health and Social Care (MH2aSC) research group |
Networks
| Name | Convener | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interprofessional Education and Practice Network | Dr Richard Gray | UK | A spin-off from a conference jointly organised by CAIPE (see Organisational Partner, above) and the VBP Collaborating Centre, this network is developing values-based interprofessional models of healthcare education in support of collaboration and teamwork in the delivery of services |
| Co- Production Addictive Behaviour Research Network (CAB) | Lucy Webb | UK | Working with ,a href=”https://valuesbasedpractice.org/who-are-we-2/list-of-project-partners/list-of-individuals/dr-guilherme-messas/”> Guilherme Messas (Brazilian Lead for VBP) and the Brazilian VBP Network to develop values-based addiction services in Brazil and the UK |
| Whiteness and Race Equality Network | Colin King | UK | Co-led by white colleagues (Simon King and Steve Gillard) the group is building on Colin King’s work (see his entry above) with the aim of moving collaboratively ‘beyond the colour bar’ in mental health service provision |
Sample Publications
| Title | Author | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Values-based Interprofessional Collaborative Practice: Working Together in Health Care (2012, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) | Jill Thistlethwaite | Jill Thistlethwaite brings her extensive experience as a clinician and Professor of Medical Education to the way interprofessional collaborative practice supports the person-centred care that is at the heart of values-based practice. Among other findings the Commission emphasised the importance of building closer links between education and healthcare in the provision of services supporting the mental health of children and young people. To download a copy go to the VBP website to More about VBP/Full Text Downloads and scroll down to this entry. |
 | The Anatomy of Collaboration | Henry Kippin and Bill Fulford | The result of a partnership between the VBP Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice and London South Bank University, this paper sets out the key facets of successful collaboration explored at our Collaborative Public Service roundtables . The roundtables were hosted at the House of Lords by Lord Adebowale (Chair, Collaborate, CEO Turning Point, and Advisory Board Member, Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice), and engaged a wide range of expert speakers, including, Julia Unwin CBE (CEO, Joseph Rowntree Foundation), Rt Hon Stephen Dorrell (Chair, NHS Confederation) and David Behan CBE (CEO, Care Quality Commission). |
 | 3 Keys to a Shared Approach in Mental Health Assessment | Laurie Bryant, Lu Duhig and Bill Fulford, for the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) and the Care Services Improvement Partnership | The 3 Keys is a values-based collaborative approach to assessment in mental health that came out of a wide-ranging consultation among mental health stakeholders sponsored by the UK’s Department of Health. The programme was co-led by Laurie Bryant, Lu Duhig and Bill Fulford, respectively Department Leads at the time for Service User engagement, Carer engagement, and Values-based Practice. The examples given in the report are the basis of on-going work by the Bristol Co-Production Group. For a description of the 3 Keys Program and recent follow-up work building on its co-productive approach, see: Fulford, K.W.M., Duhig, L., Hankin, J., Hicks, J., and Keeble, J.(forthcoming, 2015) Values-based Assessment in Mental Health: The 3 Keys to a Shared Approach between Service Users and Service Providers. Ch 73, in Sadler, J.Z., van Staden, W., and Fulford, K.W.M., (Eds) The Oxford Handbook of Psychiatric Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press see Oxford Handbook of Psychiatric Ethics |
Other areas of Service Development
There have been a number of other developments in contemporary philosophy and psychiatry with actual or potential impact on services.
We give here three such developments but would be glad to hear about others
Responsibility without Blame
Philosopher and bioethicist Hanna Pickard has used insights from the philosophy of mind to develop a novel approach to the management of offenders.
With the support of the Welcome Trust in London she has developed an e-learning resource to support those using her programme in their work with people with personality disorders and complex needs. The resource is open access, accessible and interactive. It aims to help learners understand the difference between responsibility and blame and use this understanding to reflect on their work experience and develop their practice.
For further details please go to https://www.hannapickard.com/responsibility-without-blame.html
The e-learning resource was created in collaboration with The Thames Valley Initiative (Tvi – a nationally recognised training and strategic development service hosted by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust) and with ex-service users from STARS
More Information: Responsibility without Blame for the e-learning resource
Practical Ethics
The Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics (located within the Philosophy Faculty, University of Oxford and chaired by Julian Savulescu) includes within its wide-ranging activities, programmes on neuroethics and other philosophical and conceptual issues impacting on mental health.
Its recent series of Loebel Lectures and related workshops resulted in Psychiatry Reborn [see details below], an edited collection on the biopsychosocial model in psychiatry, published in the Oxford University Press book series, International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry
Editors: Will Davies, Julian Savulescu, Rebecca Roach, J. Pierre Loebel
This edited collection resulted from a series of lectures (the Loebel Lectures and related workshops) sponsored by the Centre for Practical Ethics with support from Pierre Loebel. It offers a comprehensive collection of essays spanning the sciences and philosophy of psychiatry and reassessing the biopsychosocial approach in psychiatry
Global Health Justice
Moral philosopher, Sridhar Venkatapuram, has worked with epidemiologist, Sir Michael Marmot, on the political and social determinants of disease and their implications for Health Justice.
As an early critic of the focus of values-based practice on individual values Sridhar prompted contemporary extensions of the approach to include social and cultural values.
His book on Health Justice draws on the economist and philosopher, Amartya Sen’s, capabilities approach in an exploration of the implications of the moral right to ‘the capability to be healthy’