Professor Michaela Amering was in 2010 one of the first authors to promote cooperation with people with lived experience. In this webinar she will provide an update on the progress made in the paradigm shift. The 30 minutes lecture will be followed by a round table with the participation of Prof. Norman Sartorius, Dr Lieselotte Mahler, Prof. Yasser Khazaal and Prof. François Ferrero

This event is organized by the Executive Committee of the European Society of Social Psychiatry – ESSP (https://www.esspsy.org/) in collaboration with PositiveMinders (https://positiveminders.com).

Certificates will be provided on request to participants for the entire duration of the webinar.

About Prof. Michaela Amering

Michaela Amering is a psychiatrist and Professor at the Social Psychiatry Division of the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. The main focus of her clinical, teaching, and research is on the situation of persons with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and their families and friends. She is a proponent of the concept and practice of ‘Trialogue’, a setting which allows communication and collaboration on an equal footing between people with a lived experience of mental health problems, their families and friends, and mental health professionals, generating a specific and independent form of acquisition and the production of knowledge.

Her book ‘Recovery in Mental Health: Reshaping Scientific and Clinical Responsibilities’ was one of the first monographs on a topic of rapidly growing international interest and she and her co-author Margit Schmolke received the 2010 Medical Journalists’ Association Open Book Award for specialist readership. Michaela Amering’s national and international co-operations with advocacy movements of people with lived experience are informed by the historic convergence of the implications of the recovery concept with the expanding volume of scientific evidence as well as the actual changes of the human rights situation of persons with disabilities regarding support for a self-determined life in the community. Her activities in this regard include the coordination of the WPA Working Group on Developing Partnerships with Service Users and Family Carers. Her promotion of a non-discrimination and rights-based approach to rehabilitation and recovery is enhanced by her current work on Stigma Resistance, Capabilities and Citizenship as new dimensions in mental health care and research.

Michaela is a frequent speaker at and organizer of international conferences. Her more than 150 publications consist of papers in mostly peer-reviewed journals, books and book chapters. Her professional experience includes work in research and community psychiatry in the USA, the UK, Germany, and Ireland as well as involvement in international organisations such as the European Psychiatric Association (EPA), the World Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation (WAPR) and the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), where she enjoys Honorary Membership as a Fellow. She is a board member of the Austrian Association of Social Psychiatry, recipient of the 2020 Austrian Award for Innovation in Social Psychiatry, and an Honorary Fellow of the European Society of Social Psychiatry (ESSP) as well as of the World Association of Social Psychiatry (WASP). She is the 2021 winner of the EPA Constance Pascal – Helen Boyle Prize for Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in Working to Improve Mental Health Care in Europe.