Our work may be focused in one place but the fields of disability and mental health are vast. Each covers countless individual experiences, possibilities and challenges. That’s why how we direct our energy – and how we talk about these issues – matters very much. 

At Barnwood, we join with the people, communities and organisations in Gloucestershire’s disability and mental health movement.  

We do this in a range of ways: funding foundational work, bringing people together to learn and collaborate, testing new approaches, sharing research and amplifying the voices of lived experience.

Why language and understanding matter

Creating change starts with connection and clear goals to pursue together. If we don’t have a common understanding, or even a common language, that becomes much harder to do. 

It seemed to us that the social model of disability (though not perfect) offers the disability movement a helpful starting place to spring from. It identifies disabled people not as the problem but a vital part of the solution. 

When it comes to mental health, the dialogue becomes less consistent and less clear. 

For example, Barnwood has shifted terms – from mental health “problems” to “challenges” to “conditions.” Partly because resources are finite and funding criteria need to be focused, and partly because there’s no universally accepted framing of mental health to lean into and understandings here are evolving all the time.

Why we commissioned NDTi

To explore this further, we commissioned NDTi to undertake a literature review of the mental health landscape to help inform our work – to see how mental health activists, charities and statutory bodies grapple with this issue.  

We didn’t imagine there would be a clear answer or mandate for our work, but moving a little closer to a shared understanding and language seemed a good place to start. 

Through this review, we were encouraged to see that this conversation is already happening in many places. One key message from the review is that several prominent organisations are calling for a major shift in the way mental health is understood and responded to – to better consider the impact of social, economic and relational factors on mental distress. 

Lauren Blood, one of the authors of the report said:

What we are taking forward

The findings highlighted that, moving forward, it is important for organisations working on issues related to mental health to centre the perspectives and desires of the people they work with, while leaving space for a range of viewpoints.

This reflects what we hear through our work at Barnwood – that people want to be seen, heard, and supported as whole human beings, not reduced to labels or diagnoses. 

We’re sharing this report because we think it can help in this important conversation and because we want our own work at Barnwood to be grounded in learning, lived experience, and the realities of people’s lives.

Get in touch

If you would like to have a conversation about this report or about the future of Barnwood’s work in this area, please get in touch with Jess Waterman Head of Engagement and Insights at jess.waterman@barnwoodtrust.org