Compassion in Crisis

In collaboration with Surrey Heartlands, Surrey County Council & Systems Safety

Compassion in Crisis (CIC) is a research project, which explores and documents experiences of crisis which may or may not have led to an unplanned admission to mental health hospital or specialist units. It focuses on the experiences of autistic individuals and/or individuals with learning disabilities.

We, the researchers, are looking for 10 Surrey-based participants to join us for a research conversation and an optional follow-up focus group. Research conversations can be either in-person, online, by telephone or e-mail.

If you are autistic and/or have a learning disability, have experienced a mental health crisis which may or may not have led to an unplanned admission to a mental health hospital or specialist unit, and are interested in participating, please email: alex.hird@surreycoalition.org.uk

Feedback from interviews with Compassion in Crisis participants:

“Dawn and Alex came to my house to do the interview. They had invited me to have a friend or family member with me if I wanted to, but I was unable to arrange this. The interview was recorded on a phone, and we all introduced ourselves at the start of the recording.

Dawn asked me questions about my journey through Mental Health Services as an out-patient and in-patient, and my experiences of being autistic in Services. I didn’t have to answer anything that I wasn’t comfortable with. It was a positive experience – Dawn and Alex were friendly and easy to talk to, and it was good to be able to tell my story. I’d encourage people to have a friend or family member present if they are able to so that they can talk about it afterwards.“

“My Interview was conducted on MS Teams as I find travelling difficult, and this enabled me to feel comfortable in my own environment at home. The team were wonderfully friendly and made sure I knew I could stop at any time, but I was at ease throughout the whole interview and quite enjoyed chatting away!

I was a little concerned that I would have to ‘tell my story’ before the interview and not be sure what was relevant, but the interview was structured using questions that I could then expand on with relevant examples, so I didn’t need to start at the beginning and work forward constantly worrying I’d missed something out!

I was fine doing the interview on my own, but you are free to have a friend or family member with you if you wish. I found it a beneficial experience, and I appreciated being able to contribute in some small way to improving the services available to others in similar circumstances to me.”

Attached below are the following documents: Compassion in Crisis poster, Information Sheet and the Participant Consent Form.