Mr Nicholas Weaver

Overview

Hello! My name is Dr Nick Weaver and I am researcher in mental health, philosophy and social science, as well as being a registered mental health nurse. I have clinical experience in acute psychiatry, psychotherapeutic approaches and treatment of substance abuse and addiction issues. My research, teaching and clinical experience relates to systems and complexity analysis of services, policy and implementation. More recently my focus has been increasingly upon psychotherapeutic interventions and treatment of a variety of common or serious mental health disorders, including substance and behavioural addictions.

I am currently involved with a newly funded project investigating how student nurses exposed to different models of nurse education construct their identity as nurses and what fundamentals of mental healthcare in nursing practice transcend or are specific to local contexts. This is a comparative qualitative study involving strategic partnership between Cardiff University and Wakaito University, New Zealand. My more general research and teaching interests include recovery, addiction and dependency issues, care continuity and coordination, applied social theory, critical psychiatry, discourse theory and complex systems theory.

My most recent publication is 'Recovery and care continuity experiences of people in mental healthcare: a conciliatory approach to the challenge of implementing recovery-based services' published in 'Sociology of Health and Illness'. This study investigates potential ways to reconcile top-down, policy-based recovery implementation with recovery approaches cultivated at the grassroots level. Recently, I have published ‘Escalating complexity and fragmentation of mental health service systems: the role of recovery as a form of moral communication' published in ‘Kybernetes’. This paper examines the complexity-inducing effects of the proliferation of person-centred, recovery-based approaches to tackling mental health issues.

Recent engagement includes contact with third sector support services, ‘Adferiad Recovery’ (http://www.adferiad.org.uk/), ‘Living Room’ (https://www.livingroom-cardiff.com/), ‘Inroads’ and ‘Recovery Cymru’ (http://www.recoverycymru.org.uk/). Engagement is part of a process of connecting with ground level support for people with dependency issues for both treatment and research development purposes.

Please see my Researchgate profile here - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nicholas-Weaver-2

I undertook my PhD thesis on ‘Experiences of care continuity and recovery for people at the interface of primary and secondary mental health care in Wales: a thematic discourse analytic approach’ with support and funding from RCBC Wales. I completed this in early 2020 and an e-version can be found here: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53686 and also as full text within my ResearchGate profile at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nicholas-Weaver-2 

Recent publications:-

Book chapter on care coordination skills for ‘Mental health nursing skills’ (Callaghan; Playle; Cooper – in press) in collaboration with Prof Ben Hannigan (in Press, 2022): ‘Skills to improve care continuity’ with Oxford University Press (OUP) In Press.

Weaver, N. (2021). Recovery and care continuity experiences of people in mental healthcare: a conciliatory approach to the challenge of implementing recovery-based services. Sociology of Health and Illness. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9566.13373 

Weaver, N. (2021). Escalating complexity and fragmentation of mental health service systems: the role of recovery as a form of moral communication. Kybernetes. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/K-11-2020-0782 

Weaver, N. (2020). Experiences of care continuity and recovery for people at the interface of primary and secondary mental health care in Wales: a thematic discourse analytic approach. PhD thesis, Swansea University. https://doi.org/10.23889/Suthesis.53686 

Weaver, N., Coffey, M. & Hewitt, J. (2017). Concepts, models and measurement of continuity of care in mental health services: a systematic appraisal of the literature. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 24(6), 431-450. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12387 

Weaver, N. and Hewitt, J. 2016. Care continuity and quality of life for people at the interface of primary and secondary mental Healthcare in Wales. European Association of Centres of Medical Ethics Newsletter 42, pp.4-6. https://eacmeweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Newsletter-May-2016-final-1.pdf 

Conference presentatations/papers:-

Weaver, N. 2021. Crisis in recovery from addiction problems: the impact of COVID-19 at the sociological and individual level. Paper for the conference: Risks and Pathologies. Observed with Social Systems Theory. Inter-University Centre (IUC), Dubrovnik, Croatia: 14-17 September 2021.

Weaver, N. 2020. Escalating complexity and fragmentation of mental health services: the influence of recovery as a form of moral communication. Paper for the conference: Moral Communication. Observed with Social Systems Theory. Inter-University Centre (IUC), Dubrovnik, Croatia: 15-18 September 2020.

Presentation on ‘Recovery and care continuity in transforming Welsh services: perspectives on the challenge of complexity in mental health care’ at the International Mental Health Nursing Research Conference 2020, online conference 14-25 September 2020.

• Pre-recorded presentation at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbTCoLQ3dHU 
• Live discussion on #mhTV at: https://www.facebook.com/events/641189583251541/ 

Weaver, N. 2015. Quality Improvement Project: Relaxation Group - SafeWards: 1000 Lives. Poster for the conference: 1000 Lives Improvement National Learning 2015, Cardiff 17 June 2015.