Hi there,

I work in an acute psychiatric unit and I mainly see depression, anxiety, psychotic disorders, somatoform disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, personality disorders, eating disorders and con-current substance abuse with severe mental illness. I also am involved highly with education groups about sleep, exercise, nutrition, stress, relaxation and also CBT and DBT. I am passionate about increasing physical activity on the unit (sports afternoons, swimming, gym sessions etc) especially given the side-effects of most anti-psychotic medication (and some anti-depressants) is weight-gain. I also encourage group participation and inter-personal skills and "recovery" processes (based on the recovery model).

I teach a physiotherapy in mental health module in the local university to final year physio students and am always up for new innovative ways to facilitate this in a fun way.

There is also a conference in Belgium in February 2006 for physiotherapy in mental health... hoping to go to that to pick up some new ideas. I'm really keen to link up with other physios working in the mental health field to bounce ideas off or simply to discuss practice.