LIVING HISTORIES

If you have used or worked in NHS mental health services in Sussex they want to hear from you. They want to know the stories of your life with Mental Health Services for our project called LIVING HISTORIES. LIVING HISTORIES is led by Heads On, the official charity for Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, and supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and NHS Charities Together.

The project wants to hear the life stories of people since the asylums closed in 1980s and up to and including the pandemic. Your story is valuable whether your experiences are recent or date back several decades. Your story will form part of an archive for the future, to help understand more about what mental health services mean to us. They are looking for people who have been with NHS mental health services in Sussex or beyond, whether as a service user, carer, or clinician- any time since the closure of the old asylums up to and including COVID.

What Happens?

An Oral History Interview: You tell your story in a recorded 1–2-hour conversation with one of the trained volunteers. This is where you share your experiences and thoughts about how NHS mental health services have played a part in your whole life.

The Details

• You decide when and where this takes place, in Sussex between October 2024 and April 2025
• You can stay anonymous if you want to.
• You can give your consent for whether, how and where your story can be used.
• This could be for a podcast, exhibition, or on the Heads On website for example.
• The recordings will be saved at The Keep, in the Mass Observation Archive at the University of Sussex, to be used in exhibitions, podcasts, and educational materials in the future.

Why does this matter?

They want you to tell us about the challenges, successes and transformations within NHS mental health services in Sussex.  It is crucial that people listen to, remember and learn from your story for the future.

How to Get Involved

If you are interested, get in touch at [email protected] with the following details:

• Your name
• How were mental health services in your life? (briefly)
• Your availability between October 2024 and May 2025
• It will take up to 30 days to respond. (Can’t guarantee a place.)
• They will then arrange a time for the interview that suits you.

Please get in touch if you have questions or concerns and they will try and answer them. Thank you for considering this chance to share your story- an important part of preserving the history and heritage of mental health care in Sussex.

Read More here – Participant Call out – Oral history project (Living Histories)