Mental Health Reform welcomes Prof. Agnes Higgins as Chairperson
Mental Health Reform is pleased to announce that Agnes Higgins, Professor in Mental Health at the School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin, has been appointed as Chairperson of the organisation. Prof. Higgins is a qualified mental health nurse, general nurse and nurse tutor. She holds a primary degree from UCD, an MSc from DCU and a PhD from Trinity College Dublin.
Her research interests are in the area of mental health recovery, service user involvement, gender and sexualities. She has completed studies on service users’ recovery journeys, impact of different models of recovery on users’ and family members’ experiences of recovery, factors influencing recover-oriented education, impact of peer-support on recovery outcomes, sexualities and LGBT mental health. She is widely published in her areas of expertise and is co-editor of the book ‘Mental Health in Ireland: Policy Practice and Law’ published by Gill and Macmillan in 2014, and co-author of ‘Narratives of Recovery; the role of peer support’ published by Rutledge in 2016. She is originally from Galway, but now lives with her husband Jim in Dublin.
Speaking about her appointment, Prof. Higgins said, “I am honoured to take up the role of Chairperson of Mental Health Reform and to support its work as the national coalition driving reform of Ireland’s mental health system. I am keenly aware of the urgent need for improvements to the mental health and wider social services that support people’s recovery from mental health difficulties. There is a great opportunity now to deliver on the promise of A Vision for Change in the context of increased public support for mental health care, and I look forward to helping Mental Health Reform’s engagement with all people concerned to make that promise a reality.”
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