Ben
Davidson, BA, RMN (42), based in Eastbourne, UK, is a Senior Lecturer at South
Bank University and the principal researcher for this project. A psychiatric nurse
and group analyst by profession, Ben's special interests are politics/ideology,
and ethics/spirituality in psychiatric care, and the impact of technology on empowerment
and empathy in groups. Ben was the
first co-ordinator of the Pathfinder User Employment Programme, supporting the
paid employment of people with a history of serious mental health problems in
clinical posts within a large London Mental Health NHS Trust. One outcome of research
into the impact of this project on the lives of those concerned and the quality
of services in the Trust was a 'user employment Good Practice Guide', commissioned
by the NHS Executive and now used widely within the NHS. Ben won the Nursing Times/3M's
'Nurse of the Year' award for this work in 1999. In addition to mental health
nursing and project management experience, Ben has 12 years experience of conducting
groups, and currently sees patients for group psychotherapy at the Maudsley Hospital,
also running a range of therapy, staff development, supervision and experiential
groups for patients, staff and trainees at various NHS and private clinics. Ben
has published 24 journal articles and book chapters, as well as co-editing two
psychiatric nursing textbooks. A full publications list can be found within the
professional section of Ben's website at http://www.bendavidson.co.uk.
He runs a number of Internet discussion forums, is a member of the Association
of Internet Researchers (http://www.aoir.org)
and is Chairman of GroupInterVisual
Ltd., the company sponsoring this research through the provision of facilities
for online communication amongst research participants (for further details of
this sponsorship, see Appendix I).
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