2017 President's lectures
Professor Louis Appleby CBE: Things we know about suicide prevention but aren't true
Date: 6 December 2017
Synopsis
Suicide rates vary by country, within countries and over time, influenced strongly by economic and social factors. What therefore can clinicians do to prevent suicide? This lecture will cover evidence on suicide prevention by health services, especially in mental health, from individual clinical staff to organisations.
It will examine suicide by middle-aged men, who have the highest risk, and by young people, who attract the greatest public concern. It will discuss what we mean by risk assessment, whether the answer is in talking, training or something else, and whether suicide ever happens out of the blue. It will ask: Are mental health services in crisis? Does the blame lie with social media? And have the public had enough of experts?
Joanna Cannon: The Trouble with Goats and Sheep
Date: 14 September 2017
Synopsis
In this lecture, Joanna will explain how a love of narrative encouraged her to return to education in her thirties, her unusual route to becoming a doctor, and how she used creative writing as an antidote to life, once she arrived on the wards.
The Trouble with Goats and Sheep was inspired by the time she spent working in psychiatry, and was written just for fun, mainly during her lunch breaks. Joanna will discuss the motivation behind the story, why she felt it needed to be written, and the journey of a book written in an NHS car park, which went on to become a Sunday Times bestseller.
