‘I am not your nutter’: a personal reflection on commodification and comradeship in service user and survivor research

Abstract

This article offers some personal reflections from a mental health service user/survivor researcher working in English academia. It is a critical examination of what mainstream clinical mental health researchers and funders appear to need us to be, and what some in the service user and survivor movement perceive us to be. The discussion examines questions about commodification and public and patient involvement and contemporary challenges for service user and survivor research as a separate discipline operating within and beyond academia in England. The article concludes by exploring potential strategies for collaborative activism for service user and survivor researchers in academia based on the concepts of social capital and situated solidarity.

Keywords:

• Service user and survivor research
• service user involvement
• mental health
• scholar activism

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Dr Sarah Gordon, Senior Research Fellow, Division of Health Sciences, University of Otago for inviting and supporting her to give the earlier version this article as a keynote at the Seventh International Service User Academia Symposium, ‘Creating Connections & Building Bridges Together: The Journey Continues’, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand, 21 November 2017.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.