Time out of Mind is a one-day international conference that will bring together a wide range of people working with the heritage of mental health.  It will cover the buildings, landscapes, archives, images and memories created in the identification, treatment and management of mental ill-health throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  Speakers will include:

Surrey has had more mental hospitals than most English counties, largely due to its proximity to London but also to the work of pioneering Victorian philanthropists. As each of these hospitals has closed, we have rescued many of their records.  They include case books, medical registers, superintendents’ reports and minute books but also photographs, staff magazines, films and building plans. 

These rich archives are now of increasing interest for a diverse range of interests – family history, medical history, landscape and environmental studies – but they are also proving to be poignant and important tools for triggering the memories of former patients and staff with very personal experience of these institutions.

The conference will explore the many uses that can be made of mental health heritage, raising awareness of the innovative work now being done by the heritage sector in this field. It will also discuss ways in which mental health heritage can inspire creative works and break down barriers of stigma that continue to affect those suffering from mental distress.

 Find out more at Surrey Heritage.

If purchasing a student (concession) ticket, please bring student ID with you to the conference.