Values in Psychiatry: Managing Complexity and Advancing Solutions (book launch) – insights for clinical practice and research

11th February 2026

This event celebrates the publication of Values in Psychiatry, a book written by a multidisciplinary group of authors with a variety of lived experience and professional expertise in mental illness.
The objective of the authors was to explore the role of values in order to improve psychiatric practice. A key insight of the book is that carefully mapping patients’ values can be helpful with this in many ways. Clinically, it can improve treatment adherence and patient satisfaction as well as reduce the risk or moral injury for the clinician.
But clinical value mapping can also be helpful in improving the quality and precision of research in psychiatry. The book includes a number of examples of how to integrate the psychological and the social into the bio-psycho-social model and how to add to this the existential dimension to develop a truly holistic approach with the help of the social sciences, philosophy, literature, and art.
 

Mental Health in Contemporary Western Aesthetics: Expanding the Field of Aesthetic Engagement into Healthcare and Wellbeing’

4th March 2026

Contemporary Western aesthetics embraces aesthetic experience that is participatory, immersive and connective with oneself and through this, with others and the environments we meet them in. Such encounters are central in healthcare practice. This seminar will address why awareness of such aesthetic experience matters in mental health and wellbeing. This daylong seminar will include a range of speakers covering underpinning ideas and aspects of other fields that may be relevant to healthcare care.

Communicating about spirituality in health and social care using values-based practice

25th March 2026

Most individuals seek meaning and purpose in life, commonly referred to as ‘spirituality,’ which is an important aspect of their values and beliefs. 

In health and social care, consideration of the patient or client’s spirituality is not an option: it is a governance requirement1. Practitioners also have a duty to be aware of their own spiritual beliefs and how these may affect those entrusted to their care.

This underlines the importance of Values-based Practice, (V-BP.) In health and social care practitioners can find themselves holding  significantly different core beliefs from those of their patient or client. In professional consultations each party may have concerns about the potential for ‘the other’ to challenge or try to change their mind about their personal core beliefs.  

Two V-BP components are particularly important. The first is the essential principle of Mutual Respect. The second is the concept of dissensus, whereby not every shared decision needs to be based on consensus. This is more than just ‘agreeing to disagree.’ Mastering the art of constructing dissensus facilitates better person-centred care. The construction of dissensus usually increases respect for ‘the other’, and often serves to diminish the feeling of threat when two people discuss sensitive  topics relating to spiritual practice. 

In this seminar, we will be taking a wide-angle look at spirituality. 
•    It is acknowledged that our values drive our decision-making, why then are core spiritual beliefs so rarely explored in consultations where they may have huge relevance?
•    Religion can be an important component of a person’s spirituality, but our spirituality is not limited to our religious beliefs.
•    Meditation can be a spiritual practice and as such it is specifically encouraged by the NHS2 as a way of people looking after their own spiritual needs. Mindfulness, and engaging in creative arts or appreciation of the natural world are also spiritual activities for many people whether or not they hold religious beliefs.
•    ‘Cultural awareness’ is often taught to students of health and social care. Cultures reflect populations. V-BP is individual-based not population-based.  Can the two skill-bases be successfully combined.
 

For more details, please contact the Ruth Devaraj: ruth.devaraj@nds.ox.ac.uk