This summer McPin launched the SUN RISE project, along with Durham University. Together, we will be exploring how research into the subjective experiences of depression, anxiety and psychosis is conducted and valued within the mental health research field.
We will be mapping the current landscape of subjective experiences in mental health research, looking at the ways this kind of experience focussed research is recorded and shared.
Throughout, we will be asking the question: in what ways could greater engagement with subjective experience be useful or appropriate in future research efforts?
The lived experience of mental health issues is at the heart of McPin’s research work, so we’re excited to take on this commissioned study from Wellcome.
We have convened an international advisory group, including lived experience experts, which will inform and shape what we are doing at every stage of the project.
Our aim is that this work will kick start an exploration into the scale and depth of the research in subjective experiences so we can strengthen our understanding of depression, anxiety and psychosis.
We’re excited to work with the team at the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities at Durham University, who take a creative, collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to transforming health research.
Angela Woods, Director of the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities and the Institute for Medical Humanities at Durham University, said:
“We’re really excited to be partnering with leaders in lived experience research – Alison Faulkner and colleagues at the McPin Foundation – on work we hope can have a real impact on the future development of mental health science.”
Abigail Burgess, project manager at McPin, said:
“At McPin, we want mental health to be better understood. Engaging with people’s subjective experiences of mental health issues, and how these are researched, is crucial to facilitate better insight and understanding into the challenges people are facing.
“Working with Alison Faulkner, colleagues at Durham University, and international experts in the field to begin to map this landscape is inspiring, and we hope to achieve change through SUN RISE to influence the future directions of mental health science.”
Alison Faulkner, lead consultant on the project, remarked:
“This project has created an amazing opportunity to have conversations with people from different perspectives and backgrounds.
“Although there are no easy answers to how we capture the complexity of what constitutes subjective experiences of mental distress through research, it is great to be a part of an endeavour that recognises that complexity and embraces our curiosity.”
