Plenary Speakers

Lucy Johnstone, PsyD

Dr Lucy Johnstone is a consultant clinical psychologist, author of 'Users and abusers of psychiatry' (3rd edition Routledge 2021) and ‘A straight-talking guide to psychiatric diagnosis’ (PCCS Books, 2nd edition 2022); co-editor of 'Formulation in psychology and psychotherapy: making sense of people's problems' (Routledge, 2nd edition 2013); and co-author of ‘A straight talking introduction to the Power Threat Meaning Framework’, 2020, PCCS Books) along with a number of other chapters and articles taking a critical perspective on mental health theory and practice. She is the former Programme Director of the Bristol Clinical Psychology Doctorate in the UK and has worked in Adult Mental Health settings for many years. She is Visiting Professor at London South Bank University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

She was lead author, along with Professor Mary Boyle, for the ‘Power Threat Meaning Framework’ (2018), a British Psychological Society publication co-produced with service users, which outlines a conceptual alternative to psychiatric diagnosis. She currently works as an independent trainer, and lives in Bristol, UK.
 

The Power Threat Meaning Framework: A conceptual alternative to the diagnostic model of distress

The Power Threat Meaning Framework was published in 2018 by the British Psychological Society. Co-produced by a core team of psychologists and service users, with Dr Lucy Johnstone and Professor Mary Boyle as lead authors, it offers an alternative to more traditional models of mental health based on psychiatric diagnosis. It demonstrates the links between social factors such as poverty, discrimination and inequality, along with traumas such as abuse and violence, and the resulting emotional distress. In this way it helps to show that fear, despair, mood swings, and unusual experiences or beliefs are the result of ‘what happened to you’ not ‘what is wrong with you.’ The PTMF can be used to help people create more hopeful narratives about their difficulties, instead of seeing themselves as blameworthy, weak, deficient or ‘mentally ill’. It also shows why those of us who do not have an obvious history of trauma or adversity can still struggle to find a sense of self-worth, meaning and identity. The PTMF has attracted national and international attention.

Maria Karekla, Ph.D.

Dr. Maria Karekla is a licensed clinical psychologist, and associate professor at the University of Cyprus where she heads the ACThealthy Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Medicine laboratory. She is a peer-reviewed acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) therapy trainer, and presently serves as the President of ACBS, where she has been a fellow since 2019. She is also a fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM). She was nominated in 2017 for the National Literary Awards in the children/adolescents category, and also for her illustrations for the book. She has received numerous national and international awards and grants for her research work. In 2018, she was nominated as Cyprus Woman of the Year in the academic/researcher category.

Are we there yet? Digitally moving towards the future of contextual behavior science. 

Recently, the Task Force on the strategies and tactics of contextual behavioral science research released a white paper outlining that CBS research should be multilevel, process-based, multidimensional, prosocial, and pragmatic. This white paper outlines recommendations to maximize the impact of CBS as afield for a science “more adequate to the challenge of the human condition”(Hayes et al. 2021). Digital technologies offer opportunities for research andpractice to encapsulate these recommendations and springboard CBS research and practice to the next level. This presentation will provide an overview of the possibilities offered by the digital medium, and illustrate these with recent research from the ACThealthy laboratory.  

Susan Michie, FMedSci, FAcSS, FBA

Susan Michie, FMedSci, FAcSS, FBA is Professor of Health Psychology and Director of the Centre for Behaviour Change at University College London, UK. She is the Chair of WHO’s Behavioural Insights and Sciences Technical Advisory Group, participated in the Lancet’s Covid-19 Commission and served as an expert advisor on the UK Government’s Scientific Advisory Group in Emergencies and its Behavioural Science group. Susan is part of the UK’s Policy Research Unit in Behavioural Sciences, advising the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care. Professor Michie has served as Chair of the UK Food Standard Agency’s Social Sciences Advisory Committee and chaired the Academy of Social Science’s ‘Health of People’ project. Susan’s research focuses on behaviour change in relation to health and the environment: how to understand it theoretically and apply theory to intervention development and evaluation, and to evidence synthesis and translation.

Using models and ontologies to enable behaviour change

Human behaviour lies at the heart of existential threats, such as climate change and pandemics. Changing behaviour is key to addressing them, whether of citizens, industry leaders, policymakers and others. Understanding behaviours in their can be helped by models of behaviour that allow a holistic assessment of behaviour and point to the kinds of interventions likely to be effective.One of the barriers to making more progress in developing effective interventions is the silos in which knowledge sits, which limits the accumulation of knowledge. People in different disciplines, sectors and countries use different language, often using the same terms for different things and different terms for the same things. Ontologies are ways of representing knowledge using shared vocabularies – present the Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology.

Pádraig Ó Tuama

Alexandros Lordos, Ph.D.

Dr. Lordos is currently an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Cyprus. He also has served as Head of Learning and Innovation at the Centre for Sustainable Peace and Democratic Development, based in Brussels. He is also a member of the boards of directors of several private companies, visiting scientist at the School of Public Health of Harvard University and a senior associate of the International Peacebuilding Advisory Team. He is the writer of award-winning papers on peace and psychology.

Developing national infrastructures for multisystemic recovery and resilience: A process-based approach

Extreme societal adversity can lead to multisystemic dysfunction at the individual, familial, communal, and institutional levels. This talk focuses on a process-based approach for multisystemic recovery and resilience in extreme contexts based on public health research in Ukraine, South Sudan, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. Our approach utilizes participatory network analysis with community stakeholders to identify potential intervention targets and treatment kernels at different levels. On this basis, we selected or developed distinct group-based community interventions that address specific processes of change. Resilience-oriented therapy strengthens socio-emotional skills, multi-family healing spaces mitigate inter-generational trauma, sociotherapy reduces mistrust, while our manual for community-based enterprises supports vulnerable community members to overcome poverty. We will discuss how to bring interventions to regional or national scale through community-based coalitions that include local authorities, primary health care, the education sector, and NGOs. This approach has the potential to provide effective, evidence-based solutions that can improve the mental health and well-being of populations affected by extreme adversity and contribute to their long-term recovery and resilience, integrating interventions from mental health, peacebuilding, and livelihoods development.