Congress Cultural Fringe

Parkrun has become one of the most inspiring public health success stories of recent years. What began as a small group of runners in a London park has grown into a global movement promoting physical activity, community connection and mental wellbeing.

This interactive and welcoming session will explore how taking part in parkrun, whether as a participant or volunteer, can support both mental and physical health. Delegates will gain an understanding of the evidence behind parkrun’s wellbeing impact, as well as hearing powerful personal stories from those who have experienced its benefits first-hand.

Speakers include a psychiatrist and regular parkrunner, a retired Learning Disabilities Residential Care Home Manager who set up a new parkrun event and a participant with lived experience of mental illness who found connection and recovery through parkrun.

Governor Amy Frost will share her experience of introducing parkrun to the UK prison estate, highlighting its role in rehabilitation and reintegration, and a representative from parkrun UK headquarters will discuss national initiatives and research links.

The session will be warm, friendly and reflective, with time for questions and conversation, and will end with an optional short wellness walk outside the conference venue.

This Congress Fringe session offers delegates an opportunity to unwind, recharge, and reconnect through ecstatic dance - a form of free, conscious movement practised worldwide as a means of enhancing wellbeing, embodiment, and community connection.

Unlike structured dance forms, ecstatic dance invites participants to move intuitively to music, without choreography, judgment, or expectation. It creates a space for expression, mindfulness, and emotional release through movement.

We invite you to experience the high-stakes world of clinical research by playing "Trials and Tribulations." In this 75-minute event, you and your team will design a fictional drug trial from start to finish.

You'll be challenged with real-world 'curveballs,' navigating ethical dilemmas, budget cuts, and recruitment failures in a fun, fast-paced, and collaborative environment. This is a unique opportunity to learn about a complex topic by doing.

You will gain a memorable, first-hand understanding of the drug development process. Come ready to think on your feet, work with your team, and have some serious fun!

In this session, you will gain first hand experience of practising yoga across a range of fitness levels and abilities.

You will learn practical techniques including postures, breathing exercises, and therapeutic practices that are particularly effective for managing anxiety, depression, and stress-related symptoms.

By the end of the session, you will be able to personalise these techniques for your own daily practice and experience their long-term benefits. You will also be equipped to recommend appropriate yoga poses to patients dealing with depression, anxiety, or other neurotic conditions. Finally, you will develop a deeper appreciation of this ancient healing system and its continued relevance today.

This workshop will demonstrate a sensory, reflective and educational nature-based intervention, developed by the facilitators, which has proven to be a popular intervention with service users at South London and Maudsley Foundation Trust. 

The morning will be experiential, pragmatic and empowering, teaching clinicians how to facilitate respect for, enjoyment of, and knowledge about nature to support recovery in people with mental health problems

Psychiatrists and mental health professionals from all over the world will have the chance to sit down across a chessboard and share a game together. Whether you’re a seasoned player or just curious to try, the focus is on friendly matches, meeting colleagues at a similar level, and enjoying the mix of strategy and conversation that chess naturally inspires.

The atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming - no prizes or knockout rounds, just an opportunity to connect over the board, swap ideas, and maybe pick up a new opening (or a new friend). Boards and clocks will be provided, and we’ll have volunteers around to help match people up.

It’s a simple but powerful way to combine the thoughtful spirit of Congress with the timeless joy of the game.

Mandala art, derived from the Sanskrit word meaning “circle", has been a symbol of wholeness, balance, and connection between the inner and outer worlds.

Across spiritual and psychological traditions, especially amongst Buddhist Monks, mandalas have been used as meditative tools to centre the mind and evoke healing. Within psychology, Carl Jung introduced mandala creation as a means of exploring the self and facilitating emotional balance.

Contemporary evidence increasingly supports the use of structured art-making, including mandalas, to enhance mindfulness, reduce stress, and promote overall psychological wellbeing.

This creative practice is used in treatment of anxiety, depression, anger management, dementia, bereavement and hyperactivity symptoms.

This session will allow you to engage experientially, through guided drawing and colouring exercises, reflective mindfulness practice, and facilitated discussion. There is no artistic skills required, only an open mind with a willingness to play with colours and patterns to see its effect on your minds.

In this session you will:

Experience how creative engagement within circular forms promote relaxation, self -awareness, focus, and emotional expression, bridging art and psychiatry

Learn how mandala-making can be a tool for mindfulness

Reflect on practical ways to integrate creative practices into mental health and self-care routines

Facilitator

Dr Rajashree Ray-Bandyopadhyay, Consultant Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist

This session will showcase the award-winning short film “If Not Now, When?” to explore the lived experience of young-onset dementia and its implications for clinical practice, service delivery and community support. The film, starring BAFTA-winning Kate Dickie, follows a woman diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, capturing the emotional, social and practical challenges she faces, as well as the impact on her family.

YPWD charity collaborated with the filmmakers to ensure an authentic depiction informed by consultations with individuals living with young-onset dementia, carers and healthcare professionals.  The film is an innovative tool to engage healthcare practitioners, policymakers and community organisations in understanding and addressing gaps in support identified.

The film screening is 30 minutes and will be followed by an interactive Q&A session. The film highlights diverse challenges, including living alone, in rural areas, or without family support, illustrating barriers to diagnosis, care and social inclusion.

You will gain insights into how storytelling and lived experience can be leveraged to improve diagnosis, care pathways and community engagement for younger people living with dementia.

Health:Pitch is an innovative and inspiring charity; their opera-based sessions bring beauty, playfulness and deeply moving experiences into healthcare settings, with clear benefits for team building and relieving  burnout.

Foregrounded by the extraordinary vocal power, expressivity, and resonance of the operatic voice, these specially-designed sessions speak to profound experiences in life and heartfelt emotions in a shared and safe environment.

Performing widely across health and social care, conferences and in the corporate sector, Health:Pitch improves relationships within teams, helps staff to recover agency and strengthen their ability to express themselves at work, all key ingredients in addressing moral distress, isolation and disillusionment. 

Led by international professional opera singers and facilitated by Dr Jo O'Reilly, Chair of RCPsych Medical Psychotherapy Faculty, and Camilla Vickers, former physiotherapist and founder of Health:Pitch, we offer a hugely enjoyable, educational and motivating session involving well-known operatic arias in an accessible manner.

You will have the  opportunity to find your voice and the pleasure and relief of being connected with and in tune with each other. This session will enable us to reach and share feelings beyond words, demonstrating how this can lead to deepening satisfaction, stronger relationships and recovery of meaning in the work we do.

‘Prayers not pills’ is a serious yet humorous audio drama co-written by Robert Farquhar and Sue Ruben.

The story explores an ethical dilemma. Should doctors pray with their patients? Alison, an inexperienced young resident psychiatrist finds herself in this situation, then, is drawn into the arguments between two warring Consultants. Roger, a committed Marxist and atheist, versus Catherine, a committed Christian. Has prayer transformed Darren, a longstanding patient in a way medication never achieved?

The community mental health clinic is hugely overspent. Tony, the hapless manager, sees an opportunity to save money. Thus, a group Prayers not Pills comes into the mix, with Darren and Catherine leading it. Roger is determined to stop them. Catherine sees huge benefits in this new venture. Alison is unsure if psychiatry is the career for her.

What can possibly go wrong?  All the characters have lessons to learn, as the story unfolds, ending in a small Greek Church.

The play does not take a position, but is intended to be thought provoking.

Come join us for Congress Bingo: Mind Edition, a lively and interactive game designed to bring delegates together and spark some friendly competition. Team up and see how quickly you can identify key concepts, therapies, notable psychologists and psychiatrists, and positive mental health strategies as you work to complete your board.

Take a break from the usual sessions, share a laugh, and connect with colleagues in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere.

Congress Bingo: Mind Edition is all about having fun, thinking fast, and sharing a playful moment with fellow delegates. Every square you tick is a chance to interact, celebrate small wins, and make the most of this energetic and memorable session . Form your team in advance or during the session and get ready for a fun-filled game of friendly competition and lively interaction.

Detective fiction has long intrigued both the public and mental health professionals for the way it probes the boundaries of reason, madness, morality, and justice. This fringe session explores the intersection of psychiatry and mystery fiction through two classic works: P. D. James’s A Mind to Murder and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Each highlights the detective’s dual role as analyst and observer, inviting comparison with psychiatry’s interpretive work in uncovering motives, reconstructing narratives, and restoring coherence after disruption.

Participants will be encouraged to read both texts in advance and join a guided discussion considering questions such as: How does the detective’s reasoning mirror the psychiatrist’s clinical method? What do these stories reveal about cultural fears of madness, secrecy, and transgression? How have literary depictions of the “criminal mind” shaped public perceptions of psychiatry?

Through literature, participants will gain new perspectives on the narrative, diagnostic, and ethical dimensions of psychiatric practice while reflecting on the enduring cultural power of the mystery genre. The session will appeal to psychiatrists and other clinicians interested in how stories, fictional and clinical alike, illuminate the workings of the human mind.