Place, Care and Recovery: Community-Based, Ecological and Relational Approaches to Mental Health
Target audience
The course is relevant to doctoral research in psychology, social sciences, educational sciences, disability studies, social work, sociology, and philosophy. It offers an interdisciplinary framework for research on mental health, recovery, care, vulnerability, participation, and community-based support. The course is particularly suited to PhD researchers using qualitative, ethnographic, conceptual, and/or participatory methods. It also engages with recent developments in affect theory, assemblage thinking, posthumanism, feminist care ethics, and STS, with a focus on empirical innovation.
Organizing and scientific committee
Prof. Dr. Stijn Vanheule, Prof. Dr. Jasper Feyaerts - Department of Psychoanalysis and Clinical Consulting
Prof. Dr. Wouter Vanderplasschen - Department of Special Needs Education
Dra Emma Brijs
Dr. Clara De Ruysscher
Abstract
This course explores how place, care, recovery, and social innovation intersect in contemporary mental health research and practice. Drawing on relational and ecological approaches, it examines how recovery is shaped by social, material, and institutional environments. Topics include enabling places, affective atmospheres, community-based care, and recovery assemblages. The course offers a rapid overview of recent insights into the spatial and material conditions of recovery and how these inform innovative community mental health practices.
Objectives
The course will offer doctoral researchers advanced conceptual tools for studying mental health, social inclusion, and practices of care. By the end of the course, participants will be able to: 1) critically discuss relational and place-based approaches to mental health, recovery, and care; 2) analyse how social, institutional, and material environments shape processes of recovery and exclusion; 3) engage with key concepts in Cameron Duff’s work, including enabling places, affect, assemblages, and social innovation; 4) connect these conceptual frameworks to their own doctoral research in psychology, social science, sociology, health care, disability studies, educational sciences, and allied fields; 5) reflect on the implications of these frameworks for research design, qualitative methodology, and interdisciplinary collaboration; 6) begin to connect these insights to problems of service design innovation.
Dates and venue
07 - 09 September 2026
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Preliminary Programme
Tentative timetable:
9:00 – 9:15: welcome
9:15 – 10:15: lecture (part 1)
10:15 – 10:30 coffee break
10:30 – 11:30: lecture (part 2)
11:30 – 12:30: guided discussion
12:30 – 13:30: lunch break
13:30 – 16:30 doctoral presentation and discussion
Day 1: Place, Atmosphere and the Social Determinants of Mental Health
Day 2: Recovery Beyond the Individual (Becoming Well in a Social Context)
Day 3: Social Innovation, Practice and Institutional Change (Towards New Models of Care)
Registration
- Follow this link for the registration and waiting list. We check if you are eligible to participate. Due to limited places, we give priority to PhD students. Your registration will be confirmed by separate e-mail (outlook invite).
- Cancellation of your registration can only be performed by sending an email to doctoralschools@ugent.be.
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The no show policy applies.
Registration fee
Free of charge for Doctoral School members.
Number of participants
Maximum 20
Language
English
Training method
The course will take place over three days and combine lectures, close reading of key concepts (e.g., articles, book chapters), participant presentations, and plenary discussion. Each day will include:
· 2 hours of lecture by Prof. Dr. Cameron Duff
· 1 hour of guided discussion around key texts and concepts
· 3 hours of doctoral presentations and discussion of participants’ own research
Evaluation method
The participants will be evaluated based on their 100% attendance.. After successful participation, the Doctoral School Office will add this course to your curriculum of the Doctoral Training Programme in Oasis. Please note that this can take up to one to two months after completion of the course.