Welcome to the Open Dialogue UK website. Open Dialogue UK was established in 2012 in order to support the development of the Open Dialogue approach from Western Lapland within the UK and internationally. We provide a variety of services, including the following:
We co-ordinate the
first full Open Dialogue training programme to be run outside of Finland. The first of these three year programmes commenced in London in April 2015 and included teams from
four NHS Trusts, as well as teams working in public services in several international countries. We also welcomed independent practitioners and peers onto this programme. We started our second full training programme in May 2018, and the next full training will start in
Spring 2021, details of which can be found
here. This training is led by senior Finnish trainers as well as other leading international practitioners/trainers.
In addition to the above, we run a
one year foundation training. We have run this training three times in London. This training is led by Nick Putman (Open Dialogue UK) and other leading international trainers. The next foundation training will be starting in
February 2021, and details can be found
here.
We also run foundation trainings on an in-house basis in the NHS, and other mental health services, both in the UK and internationally. In 2017 we organised a foundation training in Queensland, Australia, as part of the Wide Bay Peer Supported Open Dialogue project and in 2019 we ran a foundation training on an in-house basis in the NHS, for South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
In the video below some of the participants in our 2016 Foundation Training reflect on the experience.
In April 2016 we took over premises in Dalston, London, where we arrange
meetings with families/networks, using many of the principles of the Open Dialogue approach. We are also able to arrange home visits in the London area, and can arrange for meetings via Skype, or for family members who are geographically distant to join meetings via Skype, where necessary. For further information on family/network meetings, please see
this page.
We regularly run
seminars in our premises in Dalston, London on the Open Dialogue approach, and are also able to travel around the UK and internationally to deliver seminars. These seminars are run in English, but can be adapted to include translators where necessary. For further information on our seminars, and to express interest in our running a seminar in your area/country please see
this page for further information.
We organise conferences and other events in the UK to share information about Open Dialogue and related approaches, and to engage with mental health professionals working in a variety of ways with a variety of client groups. Our 2016 Conference attracted 600 people and was a very stimulating event.
We work to promote the development of the Open Dialogue approach through a variety of other means, producing written and digital material for professionals, carers, service users and others who are interested in learning more. We aim to have more resources available on this website soon.
What is the Open Dialogue approach?
The Open Dialogue approach is both a philosophical/theoretical approach to people experiencing a mental health crisis and their families/networks, and a system of care, developed in Western Lapland in Finland over the last 35 years. In the 1980s psychiatric services in Western Lapland were in a poor state, in fact they had one of the worst incidences of the diagnosis of schizophrenia’ in Europe. Now they have the best documented outcomes in the Western World. For example, around 75% of those experiencing psychosis have returned to work or study within 2 years and only around 20% are still taking antipsychotic medication at 2 year follow-up.
Remarkably, Open Dialogue is not an alternative to standard psychiatric services, it is the psychiatric service in Western Lapland. This has afforded a unique opportunity to develop a comprehensive approach with well-integrated inpatient and outpatient services. Working with families and social networks, as much as possible in their own homes, Open Dialogue teams work to help those involved in a crisis situation to be together and to engage in dialogue. It has been their experience that if the family/team can bear the extreme emotion in a crisis situation, and tolerate the uncertainty, in time shared meaning usually emerges and healing/recovery is possible. Open Dialogue has drawn on a number of theoretical models, including systemic family therapy, dialogical theory and social constructionism.
Please see this page for more feedback on our events
Susan Hanson
Retired Occupational Therapist
Posted on:
Conferences
February 2016
All presenters were interesting and informative. The different styles kept my attention. The personal accounts of how the Open Dialogue approach is in use were very helpful. The approach is respectful of all involved. It encourages equal value to each viewpoint, shared responsibility and acceptance, although the pathway is rocky, a positive outcome is much more likely.
Michelle Radcliffe
Senior Lecturer in Mental Health/ Mentalisation Based Treatment Therapist
Posted on:
Conferences
February 2016
It was really refreshing to hear about a truly person centred approach to supporting people in distress. The vignettes were particularly moving and inspiring, reminding me of how I want to work with people and how hard it is sometimes in a system built on the medical model. I think it's the way we should have always worked with people in distress. I really hope that this approach can be rolled out across the UK.
Conference Attendee
Posted on:
Conferences
February 2016
Appreciated the combination of appropriate emotional candidness, and content about Open Dialogue practice and developments. My thoughts and feelings were articulated by people who spoke (presenters, delegates) at the conference: an approach that 'makes sense', seems simple/straight forward, with the complexity coming in the practice of it.
Liz Coleman
Mental Health Social Worker/ Shared Lives Provider
Posted on:
Conferences
February 2016
I was impressed that people came from the USA, Germany, Finland, Sweden etc to present, and that those presentations were beyond Open Dialogue while being in the spirit of Open Dialogue. I love [Open Dialogue]. It’s what I am about...well trying to be about...'embracing difference' in this case by engaging is a respectful honest dialogue.
Lavinia Hunter
Lead Art Psychotherapist, Cornwall Partnership Foundation NHS Trust
Posted on:
Seminars
May 2014
I really liked the way the presentations were made: calm, respectful, thoughtful, very interesting, sometimes funny - thank you! I was delighted with the personal and warm quality of Kari's presentation and also the way he delivered it. Very interested [in the Open Dialogue approach], want to use as much of it as possible.
Dr Sara Anne Maclachlan
Consultant Clinical Psychologist, SSSFT
Posted on:
Seminars
June 2015
Ten days on I am continuing to be inspired by the approach and have had many discussions about it. I hope it is an approach that our Trust considers for its training plan for 2015/16 and if not for 2016/17. Thank you very much for bringing the approach to the UK.
Diane Griffiths
Clinical Psychologist, Mersey Care NHS Trust
Posted on:
Seminars
June 2015
In one day from knowing nothing I feel I understand the principles of the approach and it has had an impact on my practice. I think this is really good for just one day of learning. [The Open Dialogue approach] is really ethical and forward thinking. I think it is a very progressive empowering approach.
Seminar Participant
Posted on:
Seminars
June 2015
I found the discussion about the 12 principles especially useful. I really like [the Open Dialogue approach]. It fits very well with my core principles in relation to what feels right and ethical when working with people with any level of mental, emotional, and wellbeing difficulties. A very enjoyable day. I hope there will be more to come!
Seminar Participant
Posted on:
Seminars
June 2015
I learned a lot from the day and it was good to have so many people from different backgrounds because it gave us other perspectives. To hear that in some cases patients recover within 2 years people and go back to work, now that is impressive. I am very inspired by the Open Dialogue approach. It feels like a very human way of treating people with psychosis.
Jessica Rush
Mental Health Recovery Worker
Posted on:
Conferences
February 2016
I think all the presentations were wonderfully concise. Brief but packed full of discourse that was both exciting and interesting and provocative and assuring and informative and inspiring. Such a wonderfully diverse range of speakers too, covering so many elements of open dialogue; it's applications, it's successes, it's progression. It was truly something wonderful to partake in.
