Piece of Mind: Mental Health & Psychiatry · Piece of Mind: Mental Health & Psychiatry

Minisode: Have your voice heard in mental healthcare decisions

·38 min·2 clips

People can use an ACD to state which treatments worked, which did not, and what to do if they are sectioned.

Bex Parker opens from the NCMH at Cardiff University. She introduces Dr Tanya Gergel and the topic of Advanced Choice Documents. Tanya explains her current role as Director of Research at Bipolar UK. She also describes her links to University College London, Cardiff University, and the NCMH. The conversation sits at the intersection of research, charity work, and mental healthcare. From there, the discussion turns to why ACDs matter in mental healthcare. Tanya frames them as a way to carry forward what someone has learned from previous episodes of illness. That knowledge can help future care go better. It can also reduce harm when someone is very unwell. The episode keeps coming back to the idea of voice. An ACD gives a person a way to state preferences when they may not be able to speak for themselves later. The discussion connects that idea to policy as well as lived experience. It notes that NHS England has recommended offering people the opportunity to create an advanced choice document. That guidance is presented as an important step for healthcare trusts. The episode also points to work with minoritised racial and ethnic groups. That work is linked to efforts to reduce detention and improve care. Bex and Tanya then move into practical territory. They discuss why people might start thinking about making their own ACD. The tone stays steady and plainspoken rather than dramatic. The episode ends by widening the frame again. It encourages broader awareness and a wider reach for ACDs across different severe episodic mental health conditions. It also directs listeners to advancedchoice.org for more information and resources.

As heard by us

A calm case for planning care before a crisis makes the decisions.

This episode makes a solid case for Advanced Choice Documents as a way for people with severe episodic mental health conditions to shape future care from the record of what came before.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Hear how Advanced Choice Documents can help keep your voice in the room when speaking up is harder.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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